PITTSBURGH — A county treasurer who lost his job after he was convicted of stealing more than $170,000 in tax receipts pleaded guilty Wednesday to not filing a federal income tax return for 2005 and promised cooperation with a federal investigation of a nonprofit agency.

Former Lawrence County Treasurer Gary Felasco Jr., 41, entered the plea agreement Wednesday. Senior U.S. District Judge Gustave Diamond sealed the agreement at the request of a federal prosecutor.

Felasco has apparently been cooperating with investigators since the date of the plea agreement, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan Conway told the judge was July 31, 2007. The government didn't file the tax charge against Felasco until Feb. 3, however, and he was arraigned on the charge Wednesday before pleading guilty.

Felasco, of Warren, faces as much as a year in prison when he's sentenced May 26. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan Conway told the judge he expects to recommend leniency for Felasco's "anticipated cooperation" on the investigation detailed in the sealed agreement.

Felasco was treasurer and a member of the Housing Authority of Lawrence County's board in September 2005 when the state attorney general's office charged him with stealing from the treasurer's office.

Investigators determined Felasco pocketed nearly $172,000 when taxpayers paid their bills in cash, then fudged county records to cover up the theft. Felasco used the money to cover delinquent taxes, pay cable TV bills, buy a van and rent space for a sex club he allegedly helped organize, among other things.

Felasco was removed from office and sentenced in August 2006 to one to seven years in state prison. He served the minimum term but remains on parole until 2013. He was ordered to repay the county about $510,000 — three times the amount he stole