PITTSBURGH — Two former Mellon Bank employees were sentenced to probation Friday for their roles in destroying thousands of federal tax returns to make it appear as though they had met deadlines.

Denise Philpott was a bank supervisor in April 2001 when Mellon had a contract with the Internal Revenue Service to process income tax returns and tax-payment checks. Philpott, whom prosecutors said conveyed the directive to destroy the documents, was sentenced to three years probation on her conviction of theft of government property.

Former supervisor David Bryant was among those who destroyed the documents, prosecutors said. He received the same sentence for his conviction of theft of government property.

Mellon employees, feeling overwhelmed and unable to meet contract-imposed deadlines, destroyed 77,000 returns and checks totaling $1.3 billion at a Pittsburgh service center, federal prosecutors said. Missing the deadlines would have meant fines and penalties for the bank.

Mellon workers were being asked to do more with less, Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret Picking said.

"There was a sense, we believe, of desperation among the employees," said Picking, who acknowledged that Philpott and Bryant cooperated.

Philpott said: "Why I did it, I don't know to this day."

Bryant apologized to the affected taxpayers and his former colleagues who lost their jobs.