Ex-state trooper sentenced to prison

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A former state trooper who forged a federal judge's signature on a fake court order to keep his ex-wife from getting part of his pension will spend more than three years in federal prison.

U.S. District Judge Kim Gibson, brought in from Johnstown to handle the case, on Friday imposed a term of 46 months on Steven Grados, 51, of Monongahela.

Grados was convicted at trial in U.S. District Court of sending a fake court order to the state office that controls police pensions in order to reduce payments to his exwife, Karen Lanier.

He was found guilty of two counts of mail fraud and forging the signature of the late U.S. District Judge Gary Lancaster.

Judge Gibson conducted the trial because all the Pittsburgh judges recused themselves.

The government's key witness was Grados's second wife, Carlese Grados, who testified under a grant of immunity.

She said she helped her husband type the bogus court order because he couldn't type well, then watched him put on gloves and trace the late judge's signature on the order before helping him mail it to the Harrisburg pension office.

Grados had access to the judge's signature from a previous federal lawsuit he had filed against his first wife, her lawyer and a judge in Illinois who handled their divorce.

Grados and his lawyer argued for leniency in sentencing, asking for less than the 46 to 57 months called for in U.S. sentencing guidelines.

But the U.S. attorney's office said Grados did not deserve any breaks.

“Stated simply,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Colin Callahan said in pre-sentencing filings, “[Grados’]' attempt to corrupt the functioning of the legal process— and in so doing victimize his ex-wife, undermine the operation of SERS [Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System] and subvert the judiciary — is a serious crime and merits a serioussentence.”

In addition to the prison term, Judge Gibson ordered Gradosto pay a $7,500 fine.