Mission Viejo Man Sentenced to 7 Months for Mail Fraud
William Sobieski of Mission Viejo was sentenced Monday in federal court to seven months in jail for mail fraud.
Sobieski, 48, pleaded guilty in June to extorting kickbacks from a Minnesota concern that sells telephone equipment for a PacTel Products unit called Great Technologies Inc. Sobieski was a vice president for national sales and marketing at Great Technologies.
Prosecutors said he threatened to bar the Minnesota company from selling the phone equipment unless it kicked back 25% of its commissions to him.
The company contacted the FBI and sent two checks totaling $3,500 to Sobieski. FBI agents arrested him in May.
Prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Gary Taylor for the seven-month sentence; Sobieski had requested community service. He had faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail and $500,000 in fines on the two counts of mail fraud.
Sobieski was also given three years of supervised release, a strict form of probation, and ordered to repay the $3,500.
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