A Northampton County man was sentenced to a county prison term in Carbon County court on Monday after pleading guilty to a theft by receiving stolen property charge.

Richard McLaughlin Jr., 50, of Bath, entered his plea before Judge Steven R. Serfass for incidents in Summit Hill in June 2019. McLaughlin was staying at a home in Summit Hill when the homeowner learned that McLaughlin was stealing items from his home and selling them on social media.

In a plea deal with the district attorney’s office, the charge was reduced from a felony 2 to a misdemeanor 2.

Serfass said despite the reduction of the criminal count McLaughlin still faced a jail term because of an extensive prior record score of 5, the highest you can obtain under Pennsylvania sentencing guidelines.

Serfass sentenced McLaughlin to serve 2 to 18 months in prison and ordered he make restitution to the victim of $230 and render 75 hours of community service, pay court costs of over $1,000 and pay a $50 per month supervision fee while on parole.

He will begin the jail term on Jan. 30.