YOUNGSTOWN — Federal prosecutors are opposing a reduction in the sentence suspended and imprisoned attorney Robert J. Rohrbaugh II received in June for helping a former client, with a history of fraud, cash a bogus $1.3 million IRS check.

Judge Benita Y. Pearson of U.S. District Court sentenced Rohbaugh, 50, in June to 52 months in prison. He is in the minimum security Federal Correctional Institution in Morgantown, W.Va., and has a release date of March 23, 2027.

But his attorney, Samuel Amendolara, filed a motion Dec. 28 asking that Pearson reduce Rohrbaugh’s sentence by 11 months. The filing noted that Pearson concluded that Rohrbaugh’s offenses warranted an offense level of 25, which carries a sentencing range of 57 to 71 months in prison, but the judge selected 52 months “by variance.”

Rohrbaugh “does not possess any criminal history points,” Amendolara stated, referring to a measuring tool in the federal system to classify a person’s criminal history.

The filing stated that because of Rohrbaugh’s nonexistent criminal history prior to the offense, a Nov. 1, 2023 amendment to the U.S. Sentencing Commission rules apply to Rohrbaugh.

On Nov. 1, 2023, Sentencing Commission ordered a two-offense-level reduction for many offenders who had zero criminal history points.

Under the amendment, Rohrbaugh “would have been entitled to a two-level reduction at the time of sentencing, which would have resulted in an adjusted offense level of 23, which carries a sentencing range of 46 to 57 months,” the Amendolara filing states.

Because Pearson varied downward from the minimum sentence by five months, the “defendant would have been sentenced to 41 months” in prison. “Accordingly (Rohrbaugh) respectfully moves this Honorable Court to modify his sentence to 41 months.”

Rohrbaugh had a law office on Belmont Avenue in Liberty and lived in Canfield. Pearson ordered him to make restitution of $569,938 jointly with his two co-defendants, Brandon R. Mace of the Youngstown area and Terris C. Baker of Canton, for the loss by the IRS.

Rohrbaugh was convicted in January 2023 during a six-day trial of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, aiding and abetting theft of government property, aiding and abetting false claims against the U.S. and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Ava Rotell-Dustin, an assistant U.S. attorney said in a Feb. 8 filing, that Rohrbaugh does not qualify for the reduction in his sentence.

She noted that the Sentencing Commission ordered that its change to the sentencing guidelines applies retroactively but not to grant relief to any defendant earlier than Feb. 1 of this year.

Rotell-Dustin stated that the new guidelines would reduce Rohrbaugh’s offense level to a 25 with an advisory guideline range reduced to 57 to 71 months in prison.

“However, his sentence already falls below that range and, in this circumstance, no further relief is available,” she argued.

She cited federal law that she said “confines the extent of the reduction authorized. Courts generally may ‘not reduce the defendant’s term of imprisonment under (federal law) to a term that is less than the minimum of the amended guideline range’ produced by the substitution.”

As a result, Rotell-Dustin stated that “the government opposes (Rohrbaugh’s) request for a reduction in sentence to 41 months imprisonment.”

Baker was sentenced to just over eight years for his role in the enterprise. Mace, who testified at Rohrbaugh’s trial, was sentenced to five years in prison. Both men are ordered with Rohrbaugh to pay the $569,938 in restitution.

Meanwhile, on Jan. 8, the Mahoning County Bar Association filed a complaint against Rohrbaugh with the Ohio Supreme Court Board of Professional Conduct asking for Rohrbauagh to be disciplined as a result of his convictions.

The Ohio Supreme Court issued an interim felony suspension of Rohrbaugh’s law license Feb. 15, 2023. But the bar association complaint is still pending.