Joe Ford, the part-owner of downtown State College’s Campus Steaks, was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison on Friday for his role in a home generator fraud scheme. Ford pled guilty to 74 felony counts, mostly of deceptive business practices, and one misdemeanor of writing bad checks in January.

The Mongomery County district attorney’s office told Onward State partner StateCollege.com that Ford was also ordered to pay $407,207.80 in restitution.

Prosecutors said Ford, 55, and his business, 1st Call Electric LLC, took deposits from 64 homeowners for the purchase and installation of a home backup generator. Ford never followed through on those deposits, taking a total of $474,185 from his clients.

Ford has been a public supporter of Penn State football’s NIL efforts, bringing some of the team’s players, including tight end Tyler Warren, defensive tackle Zane Durant, former Penn State quarterback Beau Pribula, punter Riley Thompson, and linebacker Dom DeLuca, into the restaurant for cup signings.

In January, Ford told StateCollege.com that COVID-19 was to blame for the charges

“I was in business for 31 years, and we’re rated a five-star electrical contractor for all those years,” Ford said. “COVID beat us up with the generators, with the supply chain and everything like that. We couldn’t keep up on jobs, obviously, with lack of materials and supplies. I talked to a lawyer, and he gave me bad advice. He told me to shut down. We shut down, and, obviously, we didn’t do it the right way.”

Ford also said he didn’t think the sentencing would affect Campus Steaks standing in State College.

About the Author

Joe Lister

Joe, shockingly, was Onward State's managing editor from 2024-25. It was an honor. He's off employed doing journalism things, hopefully. If you want to complain about anything he's ever written, you can find him on Twitter (iamjoelister), email (jlister2021@gmail.com), or Signal (iamjoelister.93).

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