The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Walter J. Pietralzcyk, Jr., age 40, Jermyn, Pennsylvania, was sentenced yesterday in federal court for his role in a tax fraud while also involved his wife, Lackawanna County Attorney Danielle Ross. U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas M. Blewitt sentenced Pietralzcyk to a two-year term of probation and ordered him to pay restitution in the amount of $63,124.

According to United States Attorney Peter Smith, a criminal information was filed on November 5, 2013, that charged Pietralczyk with one count of preparing and filing a fraudulent joint tax return on behalf of himself and his wife, Danielle Ross. The information charges that Pietralczyk knew that the tax return, Form 1040, was fraudulent and false as to a material matter in that the income reflected was substantially less than the couple’s actual joint income for the calendar year 2009. The restitution ordered reflects the tax loss for the calendar years 2008 through 2010.

The prosecution is the result of a joint investigation by the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Olshefski.