Luzerne County Woman Sentenced to 15 Months in Federal Prison For Wire Fraud Scheme

SCRANTON - The United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Gail Nossavage, age 62, of Harding, Pennsylvania, was sentenced on December 3, 2025, to 15 months in federal prison by United States District Judge Karoline Mehalchick, for one count of wire fraud.

According to United States Attorney Brian D. Miller, from approximately April of 2020 through December of 2021, Nossavage was employed as an administrative assistant with a church located in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Part of her duties were to manage financial matters for the church, including, but not limited to, management of church monetary collections and deposits of such collections. An investigation by the FBI revealed that Nossavage had made at least 115 deposits into her own bank account that were unrelated to any legitimate funds or checks and were fraudulently obtained. Additionally, FBI learned that Nossavage had charged credit cards in the name of the church without the church representatives' knowledge or permission and had unlawfully compensated herself with the church's money for things that she titled, "bonuses," "miscellaneous," "vacation," "travel." FBI learned that much of the fraudulently obtained monies were paid by Nossavage into online gambling platforms.

Judge Mehalchick also ordered Nossavage to pay $184,724.68 dollars in restitution and to serve a 3-year term of supervised release following her incarceration.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Luisa Honora Berti prosecuted the case.

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