From PR Newswire:

BOSTON, May 11 /PRNewswire/ — The former Superintendent of Revenue Collection for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (”MBTA”) was sentenced today on tax evasion charges.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Douglas A. Bricker, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Boston Division; Theodore L. Doherty III, Special Agent in Charge of the New England Regional Office of the United States Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General and Joseph Carter, Chief of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (”MBTA”) Police, announced today that MARY LEMPITSKI, age 48, of 58 Carolina Avenue, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, has been sentenced to a term of one year and one day in federal prison for tax evasion.

In addition, LEMPITSKI must pay a fine of $10,000 and serve a term of three years supervised release, during which she must make restitution with the Internal Revenue Service.

At the sentencing hearing before United States District Court Judge William G. Young, the prosecutor outlined some of the evidence: From 2000 through 2003 LEMPITSKI spent at least $314,000, all in cash — above and beyond any cash withdrawals coming from bank accounts or otherwise traceable to any legitimate source. LEMPITSKI spent much of that cash at high-end department stores and boutiques. At times, sales clerks would have to call for security assistance when LEMPITSKI came shopping; there was not enough room in the cash register for the stacks of bills she used to pay for her purchases. As noted in the Indictment, the bulk of the cash went for designer jewelry, clothing, shoes and cosmetics for LEMPITSKI’s personal use. None of this cash was declared on LEMPITSKI’s tax returns.

As noted in the Indictment, LEMPITSKI was the Superintendent of Revenue Collection for the MBTA. In that capacity, LEMPITSKI oversaw the operations of a facility known as the MBTA “Money Room,” which is the central cash repository for revenues collected by the MBTA daily. The Indictment alleges that, during the years 2000 through 2002, the MBTA Money Room routinely contained hundreds of thousands of dollars in uncounted and unregistered cash.

At sentencing, the prosecutor noted that the government believed — but could not prove — that the unaccounted for cash was stolen from the MBTA Money Room.

In sentencing LEMPITSKI, Judge Young noted that, although the government had not proven any theft charge, it appeared that LEMPITSKI’s extra cash must have come from some form of misconduct. Judge Young further commented that he thought LEMPITSKI was stealing from a public authority as a public official.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations, and the MBTA Police. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul G. Levenson in Sullivan’s Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions Unit.

SOURCE: U.S. Attorney