Former PA National Guard Commander Sentenced to Probation for Job Scheme

PITTSBURGH – A former Guardsmen officer at the 171st Air Refueling Wing in Coraopolis, Pa., has been sentenced in federal court to three years’ probation on his conviction of defrauding the United States Air Force and the Air National Guard of tens of thousands of dollars in military pay and benefits, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.

Senior United States District Judge Gustave Diamond imposed the sentence on Gerard J. Mangis, 61, Glenshaw, Pa.

According to information presented to the court, Mangis, a Colonel and former Mission Support Group Commander at the 171st Air Refueling Wing, conspired with Robert St. Clair, a contract employee at the National Guard Bureau and former tech sergeant at the 171st, to defraud the United States Air Force in false claims for military pay between 2002 and 2011. In 2002, Mangis appointed St. Clair to a position at the 171st where Mangis arranged for St. Clair to be enlisted at the 171st in a “no show” position, and enable him to avoid performing required guardsman duties - such as drill weekends and physical tests - while earning valuable military pay and benefits. In exchange, using his authority at National Guard Bureau at Andrews AFB, St. Clair issued streams of military “workdays” to Mangis, which he used to accumulate excessive active and inactive duty military pay between 2006 and 2011.

Assistant United States Attorney Gregory C. Melucci prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

U.S. Attorney Hickton commended the United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Gerard J. Mangis.