PITTSBURGH (AP) – A former church administrator from western Pennsylvania currently in state prison for stealing $ 1.2 million has been sentenced to a federal fine for embezzlement.
David Reiter was sentenced Tuesday to more than two years in prison and has to repay more than $ 1.4 million to the IRS. He pleaded guilty to 16 cases last December, including willful failure to pay wage tax and filing false income tax returns.
The federal prison sentence runs concurrently with the five to ten year prison sentence he received for state charges, including obtaining stolen property, theft, and forgery.
Prosecutors said the money was stolen over the course of about 17 years from Westminster Presbyterian Church in Upper St. Clair, where Reiter had been administrator since 2001. They said the 52-year-old rider and his ex-wife used the money to pay for the holidays, sports tickets and other personal expenses.
Reiter’s lawyers said his client’s ex-wife, Connie Jo Reiter, abused him emotionally and pressured him to offer a lifestyle he couldn’t afford. She did not plead a conspiracy and received stolen property charges and three years probation.
Comments are closed.