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PITTSBURGH -- Sentencing for Nick Trombetta, founder of Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, who in August pleaded guilty to tax conspiracy, has been rescheduled until 2017.
Originally, the East Liverpool resident, 61, was to be sentenced Tuesday, Dec. 6, in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh. He faces up to five years in federal prison.
His court appearance now will take place on March 3 before U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti. The move was agreed to by both the U.S. attorney's office and Trombetta's lawyers.
It was in August when Trombetta acknowledged to siphoning more than $8 million from Midland-based Pa Cyber through both for-profit and nonprofit companies he controlled.
Trombetta used the money to buy, among other things, a Bonita Springs, Fla., condominium for $933,000, pay $180,000 for houses for his mother and girlfriend in Ohio, and spend $990,000 more on groceries and other items.
He manipulated companies he created and controlled to draw the money from the school, also spending it on a $300,000 plane, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Kaufman said.
Trombetta was making $127,000 to $144,000 annually at PA Cyber when he ran the illegal tax evasion scheme from 2006-12.
By running the money through the companies or their straw owners, Trombetta avoided income taxes, though prosecutors haven't said how much. Most of the siphoned money was squirreled away in Avanti Management Group, which functioned as Trombetta's retirement savings account, Kaufman said.
The school, founded in Midland in 2000, had more than 11,000 students across the state when Trombetta was charged three years ago and still has more than 9,000.
Trombetta once was a teacher and coach with East Liverpool City Schools, guiding the wrestling program to a 149-24-1 mark in 12 seasons from 1980-92.
Neal Prence, Trombetta's accountant, also had his sentencing recently delayed. He now will appear Feb. 17 after originally being scheduled for sentencing next month. In September, Prence pleaded guilty to a charge of tax conspiracy.