PHILADELPHIA, PA — Brian Pittman, a Delaware-based pastor and volunteer police chaplain, was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in federal prison for fraudulently obtaining $544,764 in pandemic relief funds and filing a false tax return, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
U.S. District Judge Kelley Brisbon Hodge also sentenced Pittman, 47, to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $606,101 in restitution and a $200 special assessment.
Pittman pleaded guilty in March to one count of wire fraud and one count of filing a false tax return after being charged by information in February and waiving prosecution by indictment.
According to court filings cited by prosecutors, Pittman used the identities and personal information of friends and relatives to obtain Economic Injury Disaster Loans backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Prosecutors said applications containing false information and fabricated documents resulted in $363,600 being paid to Pittman’s friends and family. They then transferred more than $250,000 of those proceeds to Pittman, who kept the money, according to the government.
Pittman failed to report that income on his tax returns, resulting in an underpayment of nearly $90,000 to the Internal Revenue Service, prosecutors said.
He separately obtained another $181,164 in SBA pandemic relief through fraudulent applications submitted in his own name and in the names of businesses he controlled, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Federal prosecutors attributed $544,764 in fraudulent pandemic-relief payouts to Pittman.
During the conduct and through the time of his sentencing, Pittman worked as a pastor at a 350-member church in Delaware, served as a volunteer chaplain for a Delaware County police department and operated a mentoring program, according to prosecutors.
IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica Rice and Ruth Mandelbaum prosecuted it.
Support the local news that supports Chester County. MyChesCo delivers reliable, fact-based reporting and essential community resources—free for everyone. If you value that, click here to become a patron today.