Question

In Shavertown, Pennsylvania, the owner of Wilkes-Barre Bookkeeping LLC was indicted for embezzling over $375,000 of his clients’ payroll tax remittances between 2010 and 2016 and for lying to clients about his actions. Additionally, he embezzled nearly $70,000 from a nonprofit for which he was the treasurer. He was sentenced to 38 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution totaling nearly $500,000.

• Do you think this was a fair sentence? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Whether or not it is fair is subjective, and it would also depend on the state in which the crime was committed, and the seriousness of the crime, and also whether the crime warrants exemplary penalties.

Pennsylvania law establishes one range of penalties and sentences for all theft offenses prosecuted by the state. The potential sentence for each offense would depend on the value of the property or the type of property involved with the theft. For example, theft of property valued at $2,000 or more usually becomes a third degree felony, for which state law allows a sentence of imprisonment for up to seven years. From this point of view, the punishment meted out appears to be grossly unfair, specially since there is also a restitution order of $ 500,000.

But let us look at the nature and gravity of the felony committed.

Morgan was charged last year with one count of bank fraud and one count of interfering with the administration of the internal revenue laws. Prosecutors alleged that he failed to remit payroll taxes from clients to the government, instead keeping the money for personal use.

“Between March 2010 and October 2016, Morgan embezzled $376,224.85 from those clients, all while lying to them about his activities,” a U.S. Attorney’s Office stated.

Morgan also served as a treasurer for a non-profit corporation. He was responsible for selling its assets and winding up its operations when the organization closed in February 2010. After paying off its outstanding liabilities, Morgan kept the remaining $68,172 for himself, the prosecutors said.

When the IRS began investigating Morgan’s activities, he tried to cover his tracks by claiming he was working with fictitious IRS employees, federal prosecutors said. He compounded the lie by providing the IRS with altered bank statements and accounting records.

The defendant has acted mala fide, and his actions and intentions were both criminal. He has committed very serious crimes against society at large. And such a person should be kept away from society for the major part of his life.

Therefore, I think it was a fair sentence, and forms an important judicial precedent.