Bail set for fraud suspect

A Tarpon Springs woman arrested this week on a charge that she helped her husband defraud a Polish company could be out of jail soon to look after her three children.

A federal magistrate judge in Tampa decided Thursday that special circumstances existed to release Malgorzata J. Kruszczynska on bail, despite the fact that she and her husband face extradition back to Poland.

Judge Thomas Wilson said in court that the evidence showed that Kruszczynska was likely involved in the scheme, but it was "not overwhelming." He said the children - ages 4, 9 and 13 - would be better off with their mother out of jail.

"There's nothing like a mother for a 4-year-old," Wilson said.

Wilson set bail of $25,000. Once released, Kruszczynska, 36, must remain in Central Florida, surrender her Polish passport and check in with authorities by telephone each week, among other requirements. If she fails to show up for subsequent court dates, authorities could seize the house she bought last year with her husband in Tarpon Springs.

Immigration officials agreed in writing to lift their request for detention pending extradition if the judge found reason to grant bail. As of early Thursday evening, she was still being held at the Orient Road jail in Hillsborough County.

Kruszczynska's husband, Jacek R. Kruszczynski, will remain in jail without bail. Wilson indicated that the evidence showed that Kruszczynski's connection to the fraud case was more substantial.

The two defense lawyers said in court that the couple might waive their right to have a hearing to determine if they should be extradited. Such a move could hasten their removal back to Poland, where they would face the fraud charge.

The couple arrived in the United States in February 2000 as visitors and lived in New Jersey before moving to Tarpon Springs, according to the FBI. In December 2001 they paid $170,000 for a new home on Wood Brook Street, just south of the Pinellas-Pasco county line. The couple, who run the Daisy Polish Deli on U.S. 19 in Holiday, are married but have slightly different last names.

FBI agents arrested Kruszczynski and Kruszczynska Tuesday. Each was charged with one count of fraud in Poland, where an undisclosed number of others also have been charged in the scheme, according to the FBI.

Polish authorities allege that Kruszczynski, 35, and others defrauded a Polish corporation known as Pollena by taking $304,000 in household chemical products and selling them on the black market. Kruszczynski and associates have been accused in Poland of paying bribes and kickbacks to a Pollena executive who allegedly helped him take possession of the goods, according to the FBI.

That executive also worked to subvert the company's efforts to collect payment for the goods, but Pollena's chief accountant uncovered the scheme in January 2000 and filed a criminal complaint.

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