A Pennsylvania woman has been sentenced to one year in prison, followed by one year supervised release, for tax fraud.
Rosezanna Czwalina, 70, of Morton, was also ordered to pay $112,846 in restitution, according to a May 18 Department of Justice news release.
"Honest taxpayers are fed up with the likes of Czwalina, who knowingly disregarded her legal duty to pay her fair share of taxes year after year," IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Yury Kruty said in the news release. "It is our hope that the sentence she received would deter would-be tax cheats."
Czwalina served as the tax collector and treasurer for Ridley Township, in Delaware County, from 2009 until she resigned in 2021. According to the news release, she pleaded guilty to five counts of filing false tax returns "in connection with her efforts to avoid paying her duly owed tax obligations." She reportedly failed to report retained feeds paid to her for tax certifications and the generation of duplicate tax bills for 2014-18.
“The American tax system provides government services critical to our people,” said U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams in the release. “Every time someone cheats the tax system, the burden of providing vital services increases on taxpayers who pay their fair share. As an elected official responsible for collecting taxes and managing public money, this defendant knew what her obligations were and willfully chose to ignore them.”
“As the township’s own tax collector, Czwalina well knew the importance of tax revenue to the proper functioning of government,” said Jacqueline Maguire, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia division, according to the release. “And yet, for years, she knowingly shorted the federal system and its taxpayers by failing to report her true income. Elected officials must be held to the highest of ethical standards and when their actions cross into criminality, the FBI and our partners won’t hesitate to investigate and hold them properly accountable.”
