CLEARFIELD – A state prison inmate accused of throwing liquid feces at two employees was sentenced Monday during colloquy court.
Richard Edwin Winghart Jr., 28, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated harassment by a prisoner.
Judge Paul E. Cherry sentenced him to 21 months to 42 months in state prison for each count with the sentences to run concurrent with each other.
The new sentence will run consecutive to his current state prison sentence.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, a nurse and corrections officer was dispensing medication to the inmates at SCI Houtzdale on June 15 when they approached Winghart’s cell.
Winghart accepted the medication but then stuck his arm out of the wicket preventing them from closing it.
He threw a brown liquid substance from a cup toward them, striking them on their right side.
The CO told investigators that Winghart then threw a plastic bag of the brown liquid in their direction that struck a wall. Next he used a spray bottle or other device to squirt the liquid at them, the nurse said.
Both employees were struck in the face and the body with the liquid, which smelled of feces.
When their uniforms were tested, traces of feces were reportedly found in the brown stains on the clothing.
Investigators were able to view footage from a surveillance camera that confirmed the employees’ accounts of the event.