Two members of a local skinhead group were sentenced Friday to serve up to 10 years in prison for their role in a 2005 bar fight. The prison time is one component of a sentence imposed by a Westmoreland County judge who demanded the men distance themselves from white supremacy groups. Judge Richard E. McCormick Jr. told Todd Clair Sager and Edward Locke yesterday he would monitor who they associated with both in and out of prison to ensure they no longer have any contact with racist organizations. McCormick said he would write a letter asking state corrections officials to monitor who Sager and Locke associated with behind bars and to inform him if they had dealings with other white supremacists. "I know they are there and you better not have anything to do with them," McCormick said. Locke and Sager were arrested for their part in a melee that erupted at T.J.'s Sports Bar on March 18, 2005, in New Stanton. Authorities said Locke and other men associated with the skinheads began harassing a mixed-race couple, then started a fight that resulted in two men being stabbed. Police contended Locke stabbed two men at the behest of Sager, who boasted in the bar that he was the man in charge of the skinheads. Sager, 30, of New Stanton, pleaded guilty last year to two charges of solicitation to commit aggravated assault. Authorities said Sager was regional leader of an organization known as the Keystone State Skinheads. Locke, 35, of West Mifflin, Allegheny County, identified by police as a member of the same group, pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated assault. In court yesterday, McCormick sentenced Sager to 21 months to 10 years in prison. Sager was given credit for one month that he served in jail after his arrest. Sager told the judge he had made a mistake, but never acknowledged his white supremacy ties. "I went to a bar with people I should not have. I made some mistakes," Sager said. The judge told Sager, "It wasn't a momentary lapse. You were involved in this organization that is clearly a white supremacy organization and now you have to suffer the consequences for involving yourself in this activity." Locke was sentenced to 33 months to 10 years in prison, but he will be given credit for the nearly 18 months he has spent in prison since his arrest. Last year, Westmoreland County prosecutors dismissed attempted murder charges against both men, saying that witnesses did not want to testify at a trial because they were fearful of retribution by skinheads sympathetic to Sager and Locke.

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