SMETHPORT — Bradford man Terry E. Sorensen will serve 6 ½ to 13 years in state prison for allegations he was manufacturing methamphetamine and accepting money for contract work he did not do.
Sorensen, 41, was sentenced Thursday in McKean County Court before President Judge John Pavlock.
Sorensen was also ordered to pay $617.50 in restitution and a $2,327 lab fee, and he is to have no contact with the victims in any of the cases or the codefendant. He has credit for 94 days of time served.
The sentence was for charges in three separate cases.
On Dec. 17, a jury found Sorensen guilty of a charge of theft by deception and deceptive business practices.
Then, on Dec. 20, he pleaded guilty in two cases: in one case to home improvement fraud, a first-degree misdemeanor; and in the second, risking catastrophe, a third-degree felony; conspiracy to manufacture a controlled substance, a felony; and conspiracy to operate a meth lab, a second-degree felony.
Prior to ordering the sentence, Pavlock referred to Sorensen’s court appearance last week, when Sorensen admitted that he talks too much. Pavlock told Sorensen he does a lot of talking but “very little action in your life.”
The judge went on to start reading through Sorensen’s lengthy criminal record, which included several forgery, theft and bad check cases, as well as other offenses. “It goes on and on and on,” Pavlock said, instead of finishing the list.
“It’s not talk people look at or should look at. It’s results,” said the judge.
He noted that Sorensen’s actions put people “at serious risk of harm.”
Regarding the case that went to trial, those charges stem from a 2015 incident in which he failed to return a down payment for home improvement services that he failed to perform.
In the meth case, he pleaded guilty to allegations that between Oct. 1, 2017, and March 27, Sorensen conspired with Teresa Y. Doner, 45, to operate a meth lab, which put other people at risk due to it being a highly explosive and toxic enterprise. The weight of the meth he possessed was 999 grams.
In the home improvement fraud case, he pleaded guilty to allegations that between Oct. 25 and Nov. 10 in 2016, Sorensen accepted $300 as a down payment for a home improvement project. He failed to perform the services or give the money back.
Doner was sentenced to seven to 18 months in McKean County Jail with two years of concurrent probation for charges of conspiracy to possess a precursor substance with the intent to manufacture a controlled substance and conspiracy to risk catastrophe.
