A federal judge remained “steadfast” in his decision to deny a Butler County man's request to withdraw his guilty plea in a fraud case.

After denying Scott Roskovski's request to withdraw his guilty plea in February, Judge William Stickman on Monday denied Roskovski's second attempt at withdrawal. Stickman concluded that Roskovski's “new arguments merely put flesh on the bones of the old and ring hollow.”

Scott Roskovski and his wife, Stephanie Roskovski, pleaded guilty in federal court May 28, 2020, to separate charges related to defrauding the Butler Health System of between $600,000 to $1.3 million, when Stephanie was the system's chief operating officer from 2011 to 2017.

Scott Roskovski pleaded guilty to federal charges of filing a false loan application and false income tax return, and on Jan. 12 he asked Stickman if he could reclaim his innocence. Stickman, a judge with the Western District of Pennsylvania, denied the motion, and in April, Scott tried again after firing his old lawyer and getting a new one.

Stickman found that with changing of lawyers, “Mr. Roskovski has made a shift in defense tactics” but found that he still hadn't made a “credible showing of innocence that is supported by a factual record.”

In Scott Roskovski's renewed withdrawal request, he argues that he didn't understand the technicalities of what he was pleading guilty to May 28.

But Stickman noted, as he did in his rejection of Scott Roskovski's first motion to withdraw, that Roskovski understood what he was pleading guilty to when the court walked him through the guilty plea May 28.

“For him to argue that he had any other understanding about the burden of proof in a criminal trial borders on preposterous,” Stickman wrote in his order. “The Court rejects Mr. Roskovski's argument that he was 'confused' about the Government's burden of proof at trial.”

In Scott Roskovski's most recent attempt to withdraw his plea, he cites in court filings several documents that he claims support his arguments that he should be able to withdraw his guilty plea. But the court found that these documents have “little, or no, evidentiary value” and Stickman characterizes one of the documents as “self-serving.”

Scott Roskovski is scheduled to be sentenced June 10. Prosecutors recommended that Stickman sentence Scott Roskovski to two years to 30 months in prison along with restitution orders to pay back Butler Health System and the Internal Revenue Service.