PITTSBURGH — A county treasurer who lost his job after he was convicted of stealing $172,000 in tax receipts was sentenced Tuesday to three years of probation for not filing a federal tax return in 2005.

Former Lawrence County Treasurer Gary Felasco Jr. was given a break on his sentence because he has been cooperating in an ongoing public corruption probe. The advisory range for the federal offense is four to 10 months in prison.

Senior U.S. District Judge Gustave Diamond ordered Felasco, who now lives in Warren, to remain in home confinement on electronic monitoring for the first six months of his probation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan Conway told the judge Felasco's cooperation has been exemplary. Nearly everything Felasco told investigators has been corroborated, Conway said.

Neither Conway nor Felasco's attorney, James Ross, would elaborate on Felasco's cooperation in the mortgage fraud case. Ross said Felasco has been cooperating for three years.

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