Brian K. Wiley, Lieber's attorney, told Biehn that his client was prepared to return $5,250.
"I'm not overjoyed that you came in with $5,000," Biehn told Lieber. In accumulating only that amount since Lieber was first charged on March 30, Biehn said, "You didn't do a real good job."
The judge said he had heard from family and friends that Lieber is "a loving husband who has done good things for his country."
But victims had written to him, Biehn said, that Lieber is "a man without a conscience, a master deceiver."
The District Attorney's Office alleged that Lieber and his firm, K&M Custom Woodworking, had failed to pay bills and performed shoddy work or, in 15 of the 27 cases, no work at all.
Lieber told the five victims in the courtroom, "I can't tell you the grief I have. I'm not a very good businessman."
Rodney Bate, a Solebury resident who had paid $12,420 in 2003 for a custom-built bookcase that was never delivered, was one of two victims who addressed the court.
"My wife became very depressed and distraught" following the loss, Bate said. Before the sentencing, Bate argued against work release as an effective means of repayment, because "this person has broken every pledge, every contract, countless times."
Work release will allow Lieber to leave prison only to work elsewhere during the day.
Biehn told Lieber that the sentence was more severe than usual because of the significant number of victims. Lieber will also have to serve seven years' probation, he said.
Biehn warned him, "I can sentence you up to seven years in state prison if you give up on your enthusiasm" to pay back the victims.
But Biehn said that after Lieber has served half his sentence, "I will consider making this house arrest, so you can make more money," with more free hours.
In an interview outside the courtroom, Wiley said Lieber "still works as a carpenter, self-employed," and currently has contracts from "commercial entities."
The five charges were theft by deception, theft by unlawful taking or disposition, receiving stolen property, and two versions of deceptive or fraudulent business practices, all third-degree felonies.
Ten civil suits also had been filed against him since 1996, mostly by suppliers seeking to recover unpaid bills.
Contact staff writer Walter F. Naedele at 215-345-7768 or wnaedele@phillynews.com.
