A former Philly Water Department supervisor was sentenced to federal prison for stealing equipment
Thomas Staszak admitted to tealing copper cable and other materials to help fund a "devastating opioid addiction," according to court filings.
A former Philadelphia Water Department employee who stole more than $153,000 worth of maintenance materials from the authority was sentenced Tuesday to 14 months in federal prison.
Thomas Staszak, 47, must also pay full restitution for the copper wire and cables he took from the storage facility he managed and later sold to scrap yards to feed what he told federal agents was a “devastating opioid addiction.”
Staszak, who pleaded guilty in January to theft from a federally funded program and computer fraud, must also serve two years of supervised release after his jail term under a sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Joel H. Slomsky.
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“Mr. Staszak used his position as a supervisor with a public sector agency to enrich himself to the detriment of all Philadelphians who expect and deserve honest services from their government,” U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero said in a statement. “The Philadelphia Water Department is entrusted with a task which is vital to the health of our city and region; the defendant’s actions took money and resources for that mission directly out of the hands of taxpayers and moved the proceeds into his own bank account.”
Staszak’s attorney, Maranna J. Meehan, wrote in court documents that the prosecution was the “most humbling and humiliating experience” of Staszak’s life. Meehan said Staszak was sorry for his actions, which came at a low point in his life: He was dependent on opioids after sustaining an injury playing ice hockey but has been clean since 2019.
“He thinks about the ’what ifs’ every day. For example, what if he had declined prescription medication for pain?” Meehan said. “What if he had had the mental, emotional, and physical strength to admit to his addiction and get help sooner? Alas, he can only continue to move forward and try to make amends for his wrongdoing.”
During an interview with federal agents in 2020, Staszak admitted to using his subordinates’ log-on credentials to fabricate requests for materials, covering his removal of the cables from a PWD storage facility in Southwest Philadelphia between April 2017 and November 2018.
He then drove the cables to scrap yards in Hatboro and Pennsauken, where he sold them for less than what PWD had paid for them and pocketed the money.