Former Schuylkill County employee to plead guilty to stealing over $450,000

HARRISBURG, Pa. –Former Schuylkill County employee, Virginia G. Kunigonis, 54, of Pottsville, faces a prison sentence in a plea deal for embezzling $452,186 from the Schuylkill County Conservation District between 2007 and 2014.
According to an Information filed with United States District Court Thursday in Harrisburg, Kunigonis is charged with one count of Theft From Programs Receiving Federal Funds.  Kunigonis is alleged to have forged 437 Conservation District checks totaling $410,435 between October of 2007 and May of 2014. The Information also alleges Kunigonis used a Conservation District credit card to pay an additional $41,751 in personal expenses during that same time period. The Information alleges the Schuylkill County Conservation District received in excess of $10,000 in federal grant monies each year between 2007 and 2014.
The Information was filed pursuant to a plea agreement that was also filed with the Court. In the plea agreement Kunigonis agreed to plead guilty to the one count Information, to cooperate with the government, to make restitution as ordered by the court, and to forfeit the sum of $452,186, all of her interests in her Pottsville, home and all of her interests in her Schuylkill County retirement account, net of taxes, to the government.
According to the Information, Virginia Kunigonis began working as an administrative assistant for the Schuylkill County Conservation District in approximately 2002. Prior to that she worked in various capacities for Schuylkill County since 1986. No date has yet been scheduled for the entry of Kunigonis’ guilty plea.
She faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison for Health Care Fraud, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. She also faces a maximum term of 5 years imprisonment for False Statements in Health Care Matters.