PITTSBURGH — Joseph Waldholtz, a former political strategist and ex-husband of a former Utah congresswoman, was sentenced to three to 15 years in state prison for stealing from his brother and late stepmother.

"Perhaps theft for you is an addiction much like drugs and alcohol are for others," Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey Manning said Thursday before imposing the sentence.

Waldholtz, 41, of Forest Hills, once served as executive director of the Utah Republican Party and is the ex-husband and former campaign manager of Enid Greene, a former Utah congresswoman who is now the running mate of Republican gubernatorial candidate Nolan Karras.

Waldholtz spent about two years in jail after pleading guilty in 1996 to writing 27 bad checks worth $2.76 million between the couple's checking accounts in a congressional credit union and a bank in Utah.

"This case is a systematic pillaging of this stepmother, his brother, the federal government and anyone else he can get his hands on and sink his teeth into," said prosecutor Marc Clark. "There is no way to stop him except to put him in jail for an extended period of time."

Waldholtz said he regretted "the impact on the health of Marilyn Waldholtz and my father" in the latest cases. "I would like to continue to rebuild my life," he said.

His father died in May 1999 and his stepmother died in June. Before she died, his stepmother testified that Waldholtz cashed checks from her account, including a $25,000 insurance check to her from his father's estate. Waldholtz also forged his brother's signature on a $5,200 check from the Department of Veterans Affairs and deposited it into one of his own accounts.

Waldholtz's attorney, Joseph Paletta, said Marilyn Waldholtz had asked his client to return from Boston after his father died to help take care of the household. He blamed faulty record keeping for Waldholtz's troubles.

"It was unfortunate that the account for the expenditures that he was not more accurate and precise," Paletta said.

Manning also ordered Waldholtz to pay restitution.