PHILADELPHIA, PA — A Delaware County attorney pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal tax evasion and mail fraud after admitting to using more than $400,000 in fictitious checks to evade federal tax liabilities and acquire an electric utility truck, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Daniel A. Pallen, 46, of Springfield, entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Gail A. Weilheimer. He is scheduled for sentencing Dec. 10 and faces a maximum possible sentence of 25 years in prison.
Pallen, a licensed attorney who owns a law firm in Media, submitted 14 fraudulent checks purporting to be “certified” to the Internal Revenue Service in November 2024 and January 2025, according to an information filed in July. The checks totaled $294,454.52.
Prosecutors stated that Pallen directed the purported payments toward federal tax liabilities for tax years 2013 through 2018, as well as 2020 and 2022.
The checks used a routing number associated with the Federal Reserve Bank and listed Pallen’s Social Security number as the bank account number, according to prosecutors. In February 2025, Pallen contacted the IRS to ask whether the checks had been received and why the payments had not been credited toward his tax liabilities.
The mail fraud charge stemmed from Pallen’s attempt to acquire a new electric utility truck in October 2024 using a fictitious cashier’s check for $129,710.51.
According to prosecutors, Pallen provided the check to an unidentified company and arranged to pick up the vehicle in West Chester. The account and routing numbers on the check belonged to the seller’s own bank account rather than Pallen.
After the check bounced and the company recovered the truck, Pallen filed a civil lawsuit against the seller in Chester County in November 2024 seeking the vehicle’s “immediate return,” along with costs and attorneys’ fees, prosecutors stated.
The verified lawsuit represented that the company unlawfully possessed the vehicle and had no ownership interest in it, despite Pallen knowing that the truck had been acquired using a fictitious and forged check, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors stated that Pallen also attached a fabricated Form 1099-A to the lawsuit claiming the company had borrowed $129,710.51 from a trust he managed. The following month, he served a notice of default and praecipe for default judgment seeking possession of the truck and a monetary judgment against the company.
The IRS Criminal Investigation division and FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Samuel S. Dalke is prosecuting it.
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