A former hospital executive faces more than four years in prison and potentially more than $2 million in combined fines, fees and restitution after pleading guilty Wednesday in federal court to two charges out of a 42-count indictment.

Stephanie Roskovski, 50, was charged in April 2019 along with her husband, Scott, for embezzling upward of $1.3 million from Butler Health System. The Center Township couple was accused of defrauding the health care system between 2011 and 2017, including mail fraud, while Stephanie Roskovski was employed as the chief operating officer for BHS.

At the time she was fired by the regional health care system she was earning $450,000 annually, plus bonuses.

Before Roskovski pleaded guilty to just two of the 42 counts, Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Bloch presented a detailed accounting of evidence that would have been presented at trial.

Bloch said she would have showed that Stephanie and her husband used fraudulent money to invest in their motocross business, SwitchbackMX, which they bought in 2015 along with 78 acres.

“Moneys obtained through fraud were used to fund renovations for the business, including purchasing of equipment, renovations to tracks, competition prizes, et cetera,” Bloch said.

This alone, according to Bloch, amounted to hundreds of thousands in fraudulently obtained funds.

Additionally, Bloch said, Roskovski used fraudulent money to remodel the couple's kitchen and for travel expenses. She also bought 105 transponders for motorbikes to track racing times and bought jackets, jeans and other clothing for her husband.

Multiple times, the one-time BHS administrator answered affirmatively that she understood the charges outlined by prosecutors, including using health system funds illegally to buy wine, cashmere sweaters and other personal expenses.

Due to coronavirus precautions in place at the federal court in Pittsburgh, Roskovski appeared via video Wednesday afternoon before U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV of the Western District of Pennsylvania.

As part of a plea agreement reached between Roskovski and federal prosecutors, she pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud and one count filing a false income tax return. In return, prosecutors dropped 40 additional related charges.

Stickman accepted Roskovski's change of plea.

He will sentence her Oct. 5. Since the plea deal does not specify her punishment, Stickman said she will have to undergo a pre-sentence report before the sentence date.

As part of the plea agreement reached between Roskovski and federal prosecutors, recommended prison time would be between 41 and 51 months. However, Stickman pointed out multiple times that he has the final say on sentencing and is not bound by the plea agreement. The federal judge further asked Roskovski repeatedly whether she understood that the sentencing recommendations were just that — recommendations.

As part of the plea deal, Roskovski agreed to pay the hospital system between $550,000 and $1.5 million, an amount agreed to by both sides. Again, Stickman noted having the flexibility to impose a stiffer penalty if he feels it is necessary.

Afrom BHS will be returned to the organization as part of restitution repayment y.

Also included in the plea deal, Roskovski will be expected to repay the government $55,000 in relation to the mail fraud charge.

She will also be expected to repay the Internal Revenue Service at least $250,001 — and potentially up to $550,000 — plus interest for filing a false income tax return. The exact amounts will be determined by the time she is sentenced.

Roskovski could have ultimately faced hundreds of years behind bars and millions in fines if convicted on all counts of the original lengthy indictment.

Scott Roskovski is expected to enter a change of plea Thursday in the same court. The former detective in the Butler County District Attorney's Office was fired in 2018 after supervisors learned of the federal investigation into he and his wife.

The couple initially appeared in federal court in Pittsburgh in April 2019 and pleaded not guilty to the initial 37 charges, and then again in May 2019 to enter not guilty pleas to five more charges added that month.

According to court documents, the investigation began in 2017 after hospital officials reported suspected financial malfeasance to federal and state authorities. The investigation led to the search and seizure of documents, electronic devices and email correspondences belonging to the Roskovskis during the summer of 2018 and their arrests this past April.

Stephanie Roskvoski's guilty plea ends a journey that started in 1994 when she joined BHS as director of Community Health Planning and ultimately was appointed as the system's chief operating officer on April 22, 2012.

She was suspended by BHS on July 10, 2017, and terminated Aug. 4, 2017.

In pleading guilty to the two charges, Stephanie Roskovski admitted filing a false income tax return for 2016. Bloch said the former hospital COO claimed she earned “$238,000 but she knew that was false, recognizing she had substantial additional taxable income” from funds received by defrauding BHS and that she should have included $306,000 of fraudulent income.

In the other charge, Roskovski admitted to defrauding her former employer using mail fraud.

“While serving as COO she perpetrated a fraud between 2011 to 2017 where she embezzled more than $1.3 million,” Bloch said. “She submitted falsified reimbursement requests (to BHS) and obtained hundreds of merchant gift cards at more than $350,000 that were used purely for private reasons.”

Stephanie Roskovski remains free on an unsecured bond.