One of two men who admitted to stealing more than $450,000 from the St. Louis city parks department will learn tomorrow how much time he’ll spend in jail.
Joseph Vacca, the former deputy parks commissioner pleaded guilty on Sept. 9 to the fraud, which he committed using his knowledge of the city's contracting process. Vacca and former chief park ranger Dan Stritzel admitted they set up a fake vendor to service the department's radios and inflated invoices sent to legitimate companies doing business with the city.
Striztel, who also pleaded guilty, will be sentenced at a later date – his attorney needed more time to prepare for the hearing. The details of the pleas were not made public.
Federal prosecutors are asking for 33 to 41 months in prison. If you're doing the math, that's about 3 to 3.5 years. No one else was charged in the case.
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