Levittown Man Sentenced To Prison For Foot Fetish Calls, Harassment

What does harassing more than a dozen women and burglarizing a marina get you? For Carl Gaither, the answer is seven to 14 years in prison and eight years of probation.

The sentence was handed down by Judge Rea Boylan at the Justice Center in Doylestown on Wednesday after brief arguments from Assistant District Attorney Monica Furber and Gaither’s defense attorney, Craig Penglase.

Gaither, 35, of Bristol Township’s Levittown section, has had run-ins with the law over the past 17 years, in addition to the latest convictions to come out of Doylestown. Since 1999, Gaither has been convicted of making terroristic threats, disorderly conduct, indecent exposure, felonies and misdemeanors relating to receiving stolen property, burglary and more, according to Furber.

Gaither recently pleaded to calling and harassing female employees at state and county institutions where he spent time for previous offenses. During the time the stalking charges were ongoing, Gaither spent time calling women and institutions to harass women about their feet. He was said to have made “lewd” and “unwanted” sexually explicit comments.

According to court papers, Gaither would talk about performing sexual acts and spoke of his foot and toe fetish. He also reportedly told several women he wanted to ejaculate on their feet.

“I want to suck your toes. You have beautiful toes,” he allegedly said while on the phone with a nurse at the Bucks County Correctional Facility in Doylestown.

Between February 2 and March 11, 2015, Gaither allegedly made thousands of calls, including more than 500 to state prisons and 278 to the Bucks County Department of Corrections.

In addition to the stalking charges, Gaither pleaded guilty and sentenced in connection with a 2015 burglary at a marina in Tullytown. Gaither reportedly stole a power washer and drove away from the business.

LevittownNow.com Publisher Tom Sofield was called to testify during the hearing. Even though his testimony was not used by the judge in the final decision, it remained on the public record. Sofield recollected before Boylan that several weeks ago a man called him making vague threats after a news article on the case was published. When confronted about his identity, the caller hesitated before giving an apparently fake name.

Prosecutors said they believe Gaither, who was on house arrest awaiting sentencing, was behind the phone calls. Despite a police report being filed, the district attorney’s office did not file charges in the matter.

In an effort to receive lower sentencing for Gaither, Penglase argued that the string of phone calls Gaither made were all part of a singular crime and should be treated as such during sentencing.

Gaither himself had an understanding that his actions were inappropriate.

“I understand what I did wrong,” Gaither told Boylan.

Before finishing his statement to the judge, Gaither mentioned that he feels threatened and uncomfortable at the Bucks County Correctional Facility in Doylestown, which is a prison he is accused of calling several hundred times in a short  period of time.

Gaither’s and Penglase’s pleas to the judge were heard. Boylan transferred Gaither to the Montgomery County prison until he is moved to a state prison, but his final incarceration point is still unknown.

Furber noted that it might be difficult to find a prison for the 35 year old due to many of his victims being employed at state facilities.

Before handing down Gaither’s sentence, Boylan explained three points that make up her reasoning: the number of victims, the volume of calls and the nature of the calls.

Gaither admitted in court that he knew what he did was wrong, and that we was sorry for his actions.

After the hearing, Penglase commented that, as per Gaither’s request, he will be filing for sentence reconsideration in front of Boylan in the next few days.

Penglase told the court he believed Gaither’s actions were part of a mental health issue, a fact that Boylan agreed with.

“There are multiple victims here. One can only imagine how terrorized they were during these phone calls.”