Ex-head of charter school appeals fraud sentence

The former board president of Philadelphia Academy Charter School in the Northeast is appealing the sentence she received from a U.S. District Court judge last week on a mail-fraud charge.

Rosemary DiLacqua's attorney notified the court yesterday that she will appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit the sentence of a year and a day in federal prison and a $10,000 fine ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Eduardo C. Robreno.

DiLacqua, a retired Philadelphia police detective, had pleaded guilty to a charge of mail fraud, theft of honest services, for accepting $34,000 in secret payments from the school's founder and former chief executive and then giving them raises and lucrative contracts.

The federal sentencing guidelines had called for imprisonment of 24 to 30 months. No reason for the appeal was given in the filing. DiLacqua's attorney, Mark E. Gottlieb, could not be reached for comment. DiLacqua was scheduled to begin her sentence Feb. 1. - Martha Woodall