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Press Release

Monongahela Man Sentenced to Prison for Fraud, Forging Federal Judge’s Signature

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Pennsylvania

PITTSBURGH - A Washington County resident convicted at trial in February on charges of mail fraud and forging a Federal Judicial Order has been sentenced in federal court to 46 months in prison, followed by a term of three years of supervised release, Acting United States Attorney Soo C. Song announced today.

United States District Judge Kim R. Gibson imposed the sentence on Steven P. Grados, 51, of Monongahela, Pa. Grados was also ordered to pay a special assessment of $300 and a fine of $7,500.

According to information presented at trial, Grados created, and twice mailed to the PA State Employees Retirement System (“PA SERS”), the state agency that administers pensions for State Employees, a fraudulent Court Order directing PA SERS to stop paying Grados’s ex-wife a portion of Defendant Grados’s pension. In creating the fraudulent Court Order, Grados forged the signature of the late Gary L. Lancaster, a United States District Court Judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Judge Gibson also made a finding at sentencing that Grados had lied under oath at trial when he denied ever receiving or possessing a genuine order of court that had been entered by Judge Lancaster dismissing a civil suit that Grados had filed.

Assistant United States Attorneys Colin J. Callahan prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

Acting U.S. Attorney Song commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation for conducting the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Grados.

Updated July 27, 2017