The former Carbon County Clerk of Courts, sentenced to serve one to three years in a state correctional institution on felony charges for theft, has had his sentence suspended as a result of the pandemic.

The Carbon County Commissioners said that on May 11, Gov. Tom Wolf signed the authorization for suspension of sentence for William C. McGinley, 62, of Jim Thorpe after the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections began reviewing sentences of inmates who are within nine months of their release date for possible early releases over COVID-19 concerns.

Commissioner Chris Lukasevich said the county was notified of the review on April 23. McGinley was within five months of his release date and already scheduled to go before the parole board in May.

The board of commissioners felt McGinley should continue his sentence and is sending a letter to the parole board.

“The Carbon County Board of Commissioners adamantly opposes early release for William C. McGinley of Jim Thorpe who is confined at SCI Waymart,” states the letter from Carbon to be added into McGinley’s file in the event the matter returns to the parole board.

“This county’s convicted former Clerk of Courts caused irreparable harm to citizens of Carbon County and beyond, the public trust, and county taxpayers,” the letter states. “The impacts of his illegal acts continue to reverberate throughout our community. Justice has not been served; citizens remain without resumed driving privileges, processing of cases remain backlogged, and taxpayers continue to fund overtime for county workers who tirelessly work to reduce a backlog that has already cost in excess of $65,000.”

The commissioners called McGinley’s early release an “embarrassment and mockery of our justice system and institutions that form the pillars of our society” and urged the state for a full sentence to be completed back at SCI Waymart.

The commissioners did not have a definitive answer when McGinley will be released from Waymart, but Lukasevich noted that based on guidance from the county’s solicitor, the temporary suspension of sentence would run to Sept. 2, McGinley’s minimum date of sentence.

“Technically, if the governor lifts the emergency orders of declaration before Sept. 2, the board of parole could have (McGinley) return to prison to serve out the minimum sentence,” Solicitor Dan Miscavige told the commissioners.

McGinley will be supervised by the parole board, and Miscavige noted that this action is not a reprieve of his sentence.

McGinley, who had served as the county clerk of courts for 28 years before his abrupt retirement on May 1, 2018, has been incarcerated at SCI Waymart since he was sentenced last year for stealing approximately $44,000 in bail money, as well as fingerprint and booking fees.

He also created a yearslong backlog of case files in the office that is still being rectified.

McGinley has paid back the money he took, as well as $7,500 to the county for the costs of a forensic audit.