Feds charge couple with defrauding hospital Allegedly stole $1.3M from Butler Health System
PITTSBURGH — A high-profile Butler County couple are facing a collective 37-count indictment in federal court charging them with stealing more than $1.3 million from Butler Health System.
Center Township residents Scott and Stephanie Roskovski, age 50 and 48, were taken into federal custody Friday, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
Charges include embezzlement from a health care benefit program, money laundering, false statements in a loan application and mail fraud, according to court documents. The couple could each face a sentence of more than 30 years in prison, a fine of $2.6 million or both.
U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady said in a news release issued Friday that the Roskovskis acted together between 2011 and 2017 to defraud the Butler Health System.
Stephanie Roskovski joined BHS in 1994 as director of Community Health Planning. She was ultimately appointed as the health system's chief operating officer in 2012, and held the position until being fired in August 2017.
Scott Roskovski, the owner of Switchback MX in Clay Township, was a detective in the Butler County District Attorney's Office. He was fired last year after 20 years on the job by Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger when his office learned of the investigation.
Initial court appearance
The accused couple had their first court appearance in Pittsburgh on Friday afternoon before Federal Judge Robert Mitchell. The Roskovskis appeared sedate with their legs shackled as they sat with their lawyers Michael Pawk and Michael Comer.
Mitchell set bond at $100,000 each and instructed the couple to pay the 10 percent surety before their scheduled April 26 arraignment. Additionally, U.S. District Attorney Carolyn Bloch, lead prosecutor for the case, asked that the two be required to forfeit their passports by next Friday. She also noted that a special condition of their pretrial supervision requires that they immediately turn over their firearms to a third party of their choosing.
The couple was released following their court appearance Friday.
Indictment details
Brady said counts 1 through 23 in the 30-page indictment allege that the couple conspired to defraud Butler Health System by submitting requests to Butler Memorial Hospital for alleged business-related expenses that were used or planned to be used for personal expenditures.According to court documents released Friday, among the purchases made using alleged stolen funds was the Switchback MX property in 2015, lavish family vacations, household furnishings, equipment, and concert and event tickets. Federal prosecutors seek forfeiture of the Switchback MX property on William Flynn Highway, the couple's Dogwood Court home, a water truck, tractor, vehicles and other equipment.Switchback MX posted on its Facebook page Friday night that both the indoor and outdoor motocross tracks at the race facility would be open this weekend.Brady said Stephanie Roskovski attained approval from the Butler Health System's chief operating officer for disbursements, but then falsified forms by increasing the amounts of the disbursement requests when she submitted them for reimbursement. She included additional expenses, attached copies of personally issued checks, and altered receipts from the couple's personal credit cards to support the fraudulent expenditures, according to the indictment.Key points detailed in the federal indictment include:The Roskovskis also used the Visa credit card issued to Stephanie by the health system for personal expenditures totaling $504,320.Money laundering charges allege the couple attempted to conceal the theft and engaged in fraudulent transactions in excess of $10,000.Mail fraud charges stem from dozens of checks totaling $489,000 sent through the U.S. Postal Service to the couple's Dogwood Court home in Center Township, as well as to various vendors for gift cards.The couple purchased $306,000 in gift cards from Simon Mall, Giant Eagle, Walmart, Target and other retailers.The Roskovskis also made false statements to S&T Bank in March and July 2018 in an attempt to get two loans totaling about $1.2 million. According to court documents, the couple allegedly lied about Stephanie Roskovski being employed, additionally telling lenders they had no debt or financial liabilities, and failed to disclose a note for $270,000 owed to Butler Memorial Hospital.
Brady pointed out that during the time the Roskovskis were allegedly defrauding the health system of money, Scott Roskovski was conducting investigations involving fraud and other crimes in his job as a county detective.Health system officials said last year that the alleged fraud involving Stephanie Roskovski “did not involve patient cash, co-pays, patient accounts, medical billing or insurance fraud, including Medicare.”After being fired from the Butler Health System, Stephanie Roskovski worked as a vice president at Highmark from September 2017 to March 2018. None of the allegations included in the indictment involve Highmark.The investigation and indictment was a joint effort of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.District attorney and BHS reactJana Panther, Butler Health System's spokeswoman, released a statement Friday once the Roskovski indictment was made public. She said BHS immediately notified state and federal investigators in 2017 after discovering evidence that hospital funds had been misappropriated.“We are gratified by the conclusion of the federal investigation,” Panther said in the statement. “Since notifying authorities in 2017, BHS has supported the investigation, recovered a substantial portion of the misappropriated funds and taken steps to strengthen safeguards, all while maintaining our steadfast commitment to proving exceptional patient care to our community.”When information about the investigation surfaced last summer, the Eagle reported that Stephanie Roskovski's total compensation from BHS in 2015 was $470,656, according to her most recent available tax filings.Roskovski notified Goldinger of his intent to retire in August 2018 by giving his two weeks notice. But after receiving detailed information on the case being mounted against the Roskovskis by federal agents, Goldinger rejected the retirement request and fired him.“It's sad,” Goldinger said of the allegations involving his former detective. “Nobody's above the law. It shows we are all bound by the same rules.”Eagle staff writer Eric Jankiewicz contributed to this story.
