Federal forgery, mail fraud trial opens for retired trooper
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A federal court trial has begun for a retired Pennsylvania state trooper accused of having forged a dead judge’s signature on a bogus court order in an effort to keep his ex-wife from receiving part of his pension.
Fifty-one-year-old Steven Grados of Monongahela is charged with mail fraud and forging and counterfeiting a federal court seal.
Media reports said that a prosecutor alleged in court Wednesday that Grados mailed the state agency overseeing his pension a bogus order he had forged using the signature of a deceased judge who had thrown out a 2011 lawsuit he filed against his ex-wife and others.
Defense attorney Al Lindsay, however, suggested that another ex-wife, who is expected to testify in the case, could have benefited from the alleged plot.