U.S. Department of Justice

Middle District of Pennsylvania

PRESS RELEASE

FORMER PITTSTON AREA SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER SENTENCED

Dennis C. Pfannenschmidt, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania; Janice Fedarcyk, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Don Fort, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division, and Mary Mitchelson, Acting Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Inspector General jointly announced today that Joseph Oliveri, age 52, of Hughestown, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today by United States District Court Judge Thomas I. Vanaskie. Judge Vanaskie sentenced Oliveri to a 12 month and 1 day term of imprisonment followed by two years of supervised release and a $3,000 fine.

In August 2009, federal officials announced that a criminal information and plea agreement had been filed against Oliveri. The Criminal Information charged Oliveri with corrupt receipt of a reward for official action concerning a program receiving federal funds after Oliveri accepted a cash reward of ũ,500 from a contractor in connection with support Oliveri provided for a contract awarded to the contractor by the Pittston Area School District Board of Education.

This case is part of an on-going investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service and was prosecuted by a team of federal prosecutors led by Senior Litigation Counsel Gordon Zubrod and includes Assistant U.S. Attorneys William Houser, Michael Consiglio, Amy Phillips and Criminal Division Chief Christian Fisanick..

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