College pal of Jeff Marsalis admits lying to feds

A man who was an acquaintance of Match.com creep Jeffrey Marsalis when the two were students at Hahnemann/Drexel University pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court to lying to a grand jury.

Greg Eric Hruby, 37, of Gatlinburg, Tenn., was charged by the U.S. attorney last month in connection with his testimony before the panel on March 8, 2007.

At the time, the feds were investigating Marsalis for allegedly impersonating a CIA agent.

Hruby also stipulated in his plea agreement that he lied to FBI agents in Tennessee.

When U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond asked Hruby why he lied, the self-employed painting contractor said: "Embarrassment."

Marsalis, serving 10 1/2 to 21 years in state prison for a 2007 conviction in Common Pleas Court for sexual assault, was not charged by the feds.

Marsalis met many of the women he dated on Match.com. He was also acquitted by two Philadelphia juries of raping 10 women.

Marsalis also was sentenced to life behind bars with eligibility for parole in 15 years by an Idaho judge last July for raping a co-worker at a ski resort.

The feds' plea memorandum said that in the spring of 2003, while allegedly impersonating a CIA agent, Marsalis introduced a woman he was dating, "Victim A," to Hruby at a Philly diner.

Court papers said that Hruby told Victim A that his name was "Greg Turpin" and that he had been recruited to the CIA by Marsalis, and told her some details to back up his bogus claim of working for the agency.

The plea memo said that after Hruby was expelled from Drexel as a result of a disciplinary infraction involving Marsalis, Hruby left Philadelphia, but stayed in contact with Marsalis by phone and visited him once.

The court filing said that when Hruby appeared before the grand jury, he was asked about Marsalis and Victim A and was shown a photo of the victim.

Hruby told the grand jury he never used the name Greg Turpin while acquainted with Marsalis and couldn't recall having a conversation with Marsalis in the presence of Victim A.

He also denied that he was aware that Marsalis allegedly impersonated a CIA agent. But Hruby admitted to a federal judge yesterday that he knew who Victim A was.

Hruby could face 10 to 16 months behind bars under preliminary advisory guidelines when he is sentenced in April.