South Park man in prison for stealing $1.2M from church now charged with tax fraud

A man already serving five to 10 years in prison for stealing more than $1 million from an Upper St. Clair church was indicted by the federal government this week on tax fraud charges.

David Reiter, 51, formerly of South Park, faces 16 counts of failing to pay taxes and filing false income tax returns.

The federal indictment accuses Reiter of failing to pay more than $800,000 in employee payroll taxes between 2016 and 2018 and for failing to properly report his own personal income.

He worked as the business administrator for Westminster Presbyterian Church and was responsible for handling payroll, bookkeeping and record-keeping.

But in November 2018, when the church board of directors began checking on an audit, they discovered that Reiter was pretending to be the auditor.

They discovered money missing from a church bank account, their early childhood education programs as well as charges on a church credit card.

The thefts, the indictment said, began in 2011.

In the state court case, Reiter pleaded guilty in October to receiving stolen property, theft, forgery, access device fraud, tampering with records and unlawful use of a computer. He was initially ordered to serve 10 to 20 years in state prison. Last week, following a motion to reconsider by Reiter’s defense attorney, Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning reduced the sentence to five to 10 years. He must also pay more than $1.2 million in restitution.

His wife, Connie Jo Reiter, pleaded no contest in state court to charges of receiving stolen property and conspiracy and was ordered to serve three years probation with one year on home electronic monitoring.

Investigators said Reiter used the money on personal expenses including trips to amusement parks like Disney World and Cedar Point, as well as sporting goods.