From staff reports
A former chief operating officer with Butler Health System and her husband were sentenced on Thursday in federal court on fraud and tax charges.
According a news release from Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman’s office in the Western District of Pennsylvania, Stephanie J. Roskovski, 51, of Butler, pleaded guilty in May 2020 to one count of mail fraud and one count of filing a false income tax return, and was sentenced to 51 months in prison and three years of supervised release.
Scott A. Roskovski, 52, also of Butler, previously pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false income tax return and one count of submitting a false loan application to a bank, the release said. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison and two years of supervised release.
“Stephanie Roskovski took advantage of her trusted position as the second in command at Butler Health System (d/b/a Butler Memorial Hospital) to steal over $1.3 million from the Hospital, a non-profit organization,” Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman said.
“She and her husband then used the embezzled money to fund an extravagant lifestyle. They also committed fraud upon a financial institution and filed false tax returns. Today is the day that justice came to the Roskovskis for their criminal actions.”
According to information provided to the court, from April 2011 through December 2017, Stephanie Roskovski, while serving as the chief operating officer for Butler Health System (BHS), embezzled in excess of $1.3 million from her employer.
She used her corporate credit card to make personal purchases that she disguised as business expenses, submitted falsified reimbursement requests claiming purchases she made on a personal credit card were for business, and obtained hundreds of merchant gift cards worth more than $350,000, falsely claiming they were for distribution to “focus groups” or physicians, and which she and her husband used for purely personal purposes, according to information provided to the court.
The defendants, the information provided to the court said, spent most of the stolen funds on lavish vacations, renovations to their home, and the purchase and operation of a motocross track, “Switchback MX LLC,” located in Butler County.
Information provided to the court said the defendants failed to report the fraud proceeds as income on their annual income tax returns jointly filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Additionally, after the couple lost their respective jobs, the defendants submitted a materially false loan application to S&T Bank to refinance the Switchback business and to purchase a bulldozer.
According to information provided to the court, the bank extended two loans, the first for $1,128,227 and the second for $55,384, based upon the false information.
The court was advised the total loss resulting from the mail fraud scheme perpetrated against BHS is about $1,331,884, and the total tax loss to the IRS is about $397,342, according to information provided to the court.
