PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that Thomas Staszak, 47, of Philadelphia, PA, a former employee of the Philadelphia Water Department (“PWD”), was sentenced to fourteen months in prison, two years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $153,367 restitution by United States District Judge Joel H. Slomsky for stealing inventory from a City of Philadelphia storage facility.

In January 2022, the defendant pleaded guilty to multiple counts of theft from a federally funded program and computer fraud. On multiple occasions from approximately April 2017 through at least November 2018, the defendant accessed PWD’s computerized inventory control system without authorization, using log-in credentials associated with PWD employees under his supervision, at a PWD storeroom. Staszak created false entries in PWD’s electronic records to provide justifications for removing maintenance materials, for example bulk wire, from the storeroom. The defendant then physically took the materials from PWD’s inventory, transported them to local scrap yards, sold the materials, and kept the proceeds. In this fashion, Staszak stole items valued at approximately in excess of $1500,000 before he was caught. As a City of Philadelphia agency, PWD receives millions of dollars in federal funds and assistance annually.

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