Patricia Driscoll sentencing rescheduled but looking at 3-years in federal prison

By Jerry Jordan, Editor

WASHINGTON, D.C. – After approximately two hours of arguments over how much money Patricia Pauline Driscoll misappropriated from the Armed Forces Foundation, U.S. Judge Richard Leon established a minimum punishment range of 37- to 46-months in federal prison and rescheduled her sentencing for Aug. 8, 2019, at 3 p.m.

The arguments were over whether the costs of meals or items received should reduce the amount of loss to the charity because those were tangible items the donors received. An example used in court was that a table for the AFF Gala might cost $5,000 but the actual cost of the meal was $250 per plate, so the amount of the cost of alcohol and food should be deducted from what a donor “lost.” Additionally, with regards to a vehicle that was donated to the charity and then sold at the Barrett-Jackson Auction, Driscoll’s attorney Brian Stolarz said it was a bunch of “well-healed donors throwing money at things” and had little, if anything, to do with claims Driscoll made that the charity utilized 95 percent of its funds to help soldiers and their families.

Prosecutors obtained guilty verdicts in November 2018 on two counts each of wire fraud and tax evasion and a first-degree fraud. She was the executive director of the Armed Forces Foundation and used her connections in auto racing – specifically NASCAR – to defraud donors of the money they contributed to help military members and their families.

In court Wednesday, prosecutors argued that donors wouldn’t have even given money had they known Driscoll was lying about how the charity was spending the money it was given. They contend the entire amount should be considered a loss and will present cases to the judge prior to the rescheduled sentencing date to prove their case.

Stolarz went through multiple line items to nickel-and-dime his way down the government’s federal sentencing guideline chart by reducing the number of points assessed to his client for her crimes. The few points Driscoll is assessed the less time she will face in federal prison.

“We are fighting for every dollar here and challenging the governments’ evidence,” Stolarz said. He has filed a sentencing request with the court seeking probation and indicated Driscoll is now claiming that she needs to be in a drug treatment program, known as the Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP). This would affect the length of time she is behind bars.

Despite Stolarz’s efforts, the judge told him he didn’t believe the loss could get Driscoll out of the 36-month range of punishment.

“It has to be calculated but it doesn’t have to be followed,” Judge Leon said. “You can argue for a variance downward and they can argue for a variance upward.”

In cases where a defendant accepts responsibility and either takes a plea or somehow assists the government in its case, a downward variance of two points on the sentencing scale can be granted but Driscoll never made such an effort and he told Stolarz not to expect it. Driscoll’s current points stand at 21 but that could fluctuate before final sentencing as the judge reviews loss information and cases being presented.