Judith A. Hetzell

Introduction

Judith A. Hetzell, 64, a resident of Sewickley, Pennsylvania, was sentenced on October 13, 2026, to two months of imprisonment, to be followed by two years of supervised release, on her conviction of bank fraud. Senior United States District Judge Nora Barry Fischer also ordered Hetzell to pay $80,966 in restitution to her former employer. The case, announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania, arose from her work as business manager for a non-profit guardianship agency — and from checks she drafted against the bank accounts of the vulnerable people that agency served.

Background Information

According to information presented to the Court, between November 2023 and February 2025 Hetzell was the former business manager for a non-profit guardianship agency based in the Western District of Pennsylvania. The agency held access to its clients’ bank accounts as a provider of guardianship and other fiduciary services — access that existed because the clients, for various physical and mental health reasons, could not manage their own finances. Hetzell fraudulently drafted checks against those accounts, made out to cash and to her own mother, and deposited them into two personal bank accounts that she controlled.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted and sentenced. Hetzell was convicted of bank fraud and sentenced to two months in prison, two years of supervised release, and $80,966 in restitution to her former employer.

The scheme ran for more than a year inside the fiduciary infrastructure the agency maintained for its clients: checks drafted against individuals’ accounts, routed to cash and to Hetzell’s mother, and settled into two personal accounts under Hetzell’s control. The $80,966 restitution figure measures the loss attributed to her conduct across that November 2023 to February 2025 span. Bank fraud — here built on authority over other people’s money — carried the 64-year-old business manager from a position of trust into a federal conviction.

Before imposing sentence, Judge Fischer stated that while Hetzell had otherwise lived a law-abiding life, her criminal conduct was quite serious in that she stole funds from the accounts of vulnerable individuals who required the services of a guardianship agency. Fischer also observed that Hetzell’s conduct risked the viability of the agency for whom she worked — a theft not just from clients but from the organization that employed her, whose ability to serve the same population her fraud depleted.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The documented reaction is institutional. First Assistant United States Attorney Carolyn J. Bloch prosecuted the case, and United States Attorney Troy Rivetti commended the United States Postal Inspection Service for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution — an agency trail that reflects the mailed checks at the scheme’s center. The release records no statement from Hetzell and no client or family commentary. The consequences are the two-month prison term, the two years of supervised release, and the restitution order running to her former employer.

Current Status

Hetzell is serving the two-month sentence imposed by Judge Fischer on October 13, 2026, and owes $80,966 in restitution afterward, with two years of supervised release following custody. Her bank fraud conviction resolved the case arising from the November 2023 through February 2025 check scheme. The release does not state whether she pleaded guilty or was convicted at trial, whether the agency has recovered beyond the restitution order, or whether any licensing or fiduciary sanctions accompanied the criminal case. At 64, the supervised release term will run to roughly her 67th birthday.

Impact on Their Career/Life

A federal bank fraud conviction built on theft from guardianship clients ends Hetzell’s working life in fiduciary roles of any kind — the conviction itself answers every background check a trust-position employer will ever run. The judge’s public framing, that she stole from the vulnerable people her agency existed to protect and risked that agency’s viability, stands as the case’s lasting characterization. The restitution obligation keeps the loss financially present past her release. The release records nothing about her family beyond the checks drafted to her mother.

Sources

• U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Pennsylvania, “Sewickley Woman Sentenced for Bank Fraud Involving Guardianship Agency Funds”, October 14, 2026 — source