Man imprisoned for stealing from Upper St. Clair church gets concurrent federal sentence

Since he stole more than $1 million from the Upper St. Clair church where he worked as a business administrator, David Reiter says has lost more than 70 pounds, reconnected with family he’d not spoken to in more than a decade and strengthened his relationship with God.

During his sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Reiter apologized for stealing from Westminster Church and told the court that materialistic greed and pride put a stranglehold on his life.

“I am deeply and truly sorry for allowing these sins to enter and control me,” he said. “I am fully aware that even with God’s forgiveness, I need to suffer the consequences of my sins.”

Reiter, who is already serving a five-to-10-year prison term after pleading guilty to theft in state court in 2019, was sentenced to a concurrent 30-month federal prison term on Tuesday. His earliest release date from state prison is April 2023.

He was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose to pay $1.4 million in restitution. Reiter pleaded guilty in December to 16 counts, including willful failure to collect or pay over tax and filing false income tax returns.

Federal prosecutors said Reiter, who was hired by the church in 2001, failed to remit more than $800,000 of Westminster’s payroll taxes to the Internal Revenue Service between 2016 and 2018.

He also failed to pay his own personal income tax.

Investigators said Reiter stole from the church bank account, from the Early Childhood Education Programs and from the church’s credit card.

The money, they said, was used to pay personal expenses, including trips to Disney World, Hershey Park and Cedar Point, as well as for sporting goods, baseball school and music lessons.

Reiter’s wife, Connie Jo Reiter, pleaded no contest to state charges of conspiracy and receiving stolen property and was ordered to serve one year of house arrest and two years probation.

She filed for divorce, Reiter told Ambrose, which was finalized in February.

In his sentencing memorandum, defense attorney David Chontos wrote that Reiter suffered from verbal and mental abuse from his wife during their marriage.

Several people who submitted letters on his behalf said that Reiter’s wife made demands for material possessions that Reiter could not meet.

“While it does not excuse his conduct, it helps explain why the person, who so many people spoke glowingly about in high school and college, became a felon,” Chontos wrote.

In his own comments to the judge, Reiter said that he has seen positive changes during his incarceration in his spiritual, physical and emotional well-being.

He went from 235 to 163 pounds by exercising and eating less. He helps other inmates with legal research, reads voraciously and spends 20 to 30 minutes each day in devotions to God, “seeking wisdom, knowledge and understanding,” Reiter said. “It has been said that God works in mysterious ways.”

In 2009, he told the court that tensions between his now ex-wife and mother caused him to break apart from his family.

But after his arrest, in 2019, Reiter said his mother reached out to him, and he has re-established his relationship with his family.

“He’s in a very, very dark spot in his life,” Chontos said, “but has been able to see the good that can come out of it — reunification of his relationship with his mom and brother.”