A four-time high school soccer coach of the year was sentenced to 33 to 66 years in prison for a string of burglaries that victims said terrorized the community of Millersville, Pa.
Stewart Michael Lazarus, 50, preyed on friends and neighbors during a spree of 30 robberies from February to September 2012, police said. He stole money, electronics, jewelry — even the piggybanks of a neighbor's daughters.
"They went from the happiest girls in the world to knowing evil," said Amy Telesco, one of more than 20 victims on hand to applaud the sentencing.
She said Lazarus was the best man at her brother's wedding and attended her father's 80th birthday party, then robbed his home the next month.
Lazarus, who also was ordered to pay back more than $80,000 to his victims, said "I couldn't be more regretful for what I did to the victims" and blamed a drug addiction for his crimes.
"This was more than just supporting one's drug habit," Assistant District Attorney Christopher Lechner said.
