A former area pharmacist serving time in federal prison will serve a separate sentence for forging his wife’s name to take out a bank loan.
Judge Phillip Gaujot sentenced Scott Tingler, 41, to 1-10 years for his conviction of forgery and ordered the sentence be served after his current 10-year and one-month federal sentence for his role in a conspiracy to illegally distribute 250,000 oxycodone pills in Monongalia County and southwest Pennsylvania expires.
“Justice was definitely served here today,” Amy Tingler, Scott’s ex-wife, said after the sentencing.
She asked Gaujot to sentence Tingler to serve this sentence separate from his federal one because it had nothing to do with that situation and was a separate and distinct criminal act.
His actions have caused her to live a “nightmare” since Aug. 14, 2018, Amy said.
“I have had to deal with non-stop stress resulting from an avalanche of issues that were caused by Scott and his extensive illegal conduct,” she said.
Tingler’s forgery conviction was for a $16,000 loan from United Federal Credit Union. He took the loan two months after Amy left him following a raid on their home by multiple federal agencies, she said.
Amy said when she found out about it, she went to the bank and was told Tingler said he took the paperwork home and had her sign it. The bank notarized the paperwork without her being there, she said.
“Our children and I have suffered tremendously,” she said.
Amy said in addition to this loan, Tingler took out three other loans in her name for almost $2 million in total. The other loans were all executed by the same banking officer at multiple other banks.
She only found out about the loans after Tingler stopped paying on the loans following his trouble with the federal government.
After the hearing, Amy said she is still working with an attorney to resolve those fraudulent loans. One of them was for $1.1 million to buy rental properties.
In addition, property owned by the couple and awarded to Amy have tax liens against them and could be taken by the Internal Revenue Service. While Amy awaits the IRS’s decision on what, if any, of the property she can keep, she’s continued to pay insurance, mortgages, property taxes and utilities, she said.
