PITTSBURGH — A Department of Veterans Affairs investigator testified Monday that a former political strategist admitted directing the department to send him his brother's benefit check for their father's death.
Joseph Waldholtz, 39, Forest Hills, is charged with forgery, theft and receiving stolen property for depositing the $5,223.55 check into his own account.
Department investigator Timothy Barry said Waldholtz told him that he used the money from his brother's check, and money from his stepmother, to pay bills relating to his deceased father's dental practice and for other estate costs.
Waldholtz said he didn't feel that his stepmother was handling his father's estate appropriately, Barry said. Bank records indicated that Waldholtz seemed to have paid some bills benefiting his stepmother and his father's estate, he said.
At the time of the alleged theft, Waldholtz was on probation for previous legal troubles that forced his ex-wife, a former Utah congresswoman, to abandon any re-election hopes.
Waldholtz, the ex-husband of former Rep. Enid Greene, R-Utah, pleaded guilty in 1996 to writing $2.76 million in bad checks and illegally funneling $1.8 million he had swindled from Greene's father into his wife's campaign account. He served nearly two years in a federal prison before he was released in January 1999 and moved back to the Pittsburgh area.
As part of his attorney's unsuccessful bid to have the statements to Barry suppressed, Waldholtz earlier testified that he feared his probation would be revoked if he didn't cooperate with the veterans department investigation.
Waldholtz's attorney, Joseph A. Paletta, declined comment after testimony Monday, saying the case was still being tried.
Waldholtz's brother, Bruce Waldholtz, was expected to testify Tuesday for the prosecution in the trial before Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey Manning.
Joseph Waldholtz also faces trial on separate charges that he forged checks from his stepmother's financial accounts and forged his name on an insurance claim check from his father's estate. His attorney has said his client wants to resolve the charges involving his brother's check before going to trial on those charges.
Waldholtz's family has also sued him for allegedly misusing more than $384,000 of his grandmother's money.