Retired Trooper Sentenced To Jail For Forging Dead Judge's Signature

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A retired state trooper who forged a dead judge's signature to avoid paying part of his pension to his ex-wife will spend nearly four years in prison.

Fifty-one-year-old Steven Grados of Monongahela was convicted of mail fraud and forging and counterfeiting a federal court seal in February. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports Grados was sentenced to 46 months in prison and fined $7,500 by U.S. District Judge Kim Gibson in Johnstown.

According to information presented at trial, in 2013 and 2014 Grados created and twice mailed to the Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System, the agency that administers pensions for state employees, a fraudulent court order directing it to stop paying his ex-wife a portion of his pension.

Jurors found that Grados forged the judge's signature in these letters.

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