Scott Roskovski pleads guilty in fraud case
A former detective in the Butler County District Attorney's Office pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges of filing a false loan application and filing a false income tax return.
Scott Roskovski was charged along with his wife, Stephanie, in April 2019 with embezzling $1.3 million from Butler Health System. The Center Township couple was accused of defrauding the health care system between 2011 and 2017, while Stephanie Roskovski was employed as the chief operating officer for BHS.
Scott Roskovski, who previously worked as a detective in the county DA's office, was fired in 2018 after supervisors learned of the federal investigation into him and his wife. On Wednesday, she pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud and one count of filing a false income tax return. In return, prosecutors dropped 40 related charges.
As part of Scott Roskovski's plea agreement, he faces 24 to 30 months in prison. He must also pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service of at least $250,001 and no more than $500,000.
The other 40 charges he faced were dropped as part of the deal. In pleading guilty to the two counts, Scott Roskovski admitted to filing false income information on a bank loan through S&T Bank.
The judge presiding over the case, U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV of the Western District of Pennsylvania, ultimately will decide the prison sentence and restitution amount.
Stephanie Roskovski faces more than four years in prison and potentially more than $2 million in combined fines, fees and restitution as part of her plea deal.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Bloch, who prosecuted the case, noted Thursday that the Roskovskis applied for S&T bank loans using false income information. After Stephanie Roskovski was fired Aug. 4, 2017, from BHS, she was hired by Highmark for a similar position, making $275,000. But she was fired from that job March 5, 2018, once the company “learned about her conduct with BHS,” according to Bloch.
A day after her termination, the couple filed paperwork for joint-application loans totaling more than $1 million from S&T Bank. In the paperwork, they said they had an income of $275,000 “when they very well knew she was unemployed at the time,” Bloch said.
Bloch also said the couple provided false liabilities and failed to report to the bank that they had entered a civil settlement to pay at least $270,000 as part of a payment plan to BHS.
“Both of those pieces of information would significantly affect their personal financial well-being,” Bloch said. “Bank relied on that financial information and extended two loans based on that.”The loans, Bloch said, were used to refinance their motocross business, SwitchbackMX, and to buy a bulldozer for the business. Bloch noted the couple continues to make payments to S&T Bank and operate the business.Regarding the false tax returns, Scott Roskovski pleaded guilty to filing the incorrect income amount along with his wife for 2016. Bloch said he reported a sum of $238,000 for their income “when in fact he had substantial additional taxable income.”Bloch said he should have reported $306,000, and that failing to do so resulted in a “significant loss of tax” to the IRS.Bloch said Roskovski falsified other information on the tax return. She said he falsely claimed $7,000 in vehicle parking and traveling expenses that were incurred while Stephanie Roskovski was working for BHS.“He indicated his wife paid that, but were not in turn reimbursed by her employer. All such travel expenses were actually paid by BHS,” Bloch said. “This was a method to reduce taxable income in 2016.”Stickman asked Bloch to calculate a concrete figure for the amount lost before sentencing.Scott Roskovski will be sentenced Oct. 6, and his wife will be sentenced Oct. 5.
