Ex-workers get prison for role in Renee Tartaglione scheme

Two former employees of the publicly funded mental health and substance abuse clinic plundered by its politically connected boss, Renee Tartaglione, were sentenced to prison terms Monday in Philadelphia federal court for aiding Tartaglione with her scheme, U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain announced.

Sandy Acosta, former administrator for the Juniata Community Mental Health Clinic, was sentenced to 18 months and Amalia Rodriguez, former billing clerk at the clinic, was sentenced to six months for their roles in Tartaglione's scheme. Acosta and Rodriguez also were ordered to pay $793,000 in restitution to the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office on behalf of a successor to the clinic.

Tartaglione was sentenced in July to six years and 10 months in federal prison for defrauding the nonprofit she ran with her husband, Carlos Matos, a Democratic ward leader and felon. A jury convicted her last year of 53 counts of conspiracy, theft, fraud, and tax evasion in a scheme in which prosecutors alleged she fleeced $1 million from the clinic, located in the city's Fairhill section.