In a request seeking to fit the punishment to the crime, the U.S. is asking that the head of a company that passed off fake grated Parmesan cheese as the real thing be sentenced to time at a food pantry or soup kitchen. While jail remains an option, sentencing documents filed Tuesday by federal prosecutors in U.S. District Court for western Pennsylvania are only asking that Michelle Myrter, president of Castle Cheese Inc. in Slippery Rock, Pa., receive 0 to 6 months in lockup, along with her community service. Her attorney has asked for probation. Myrter pleaded guilty seven months ago to federal misdemeanor charges involving food adulteration. The prosecutors said her company and two others controlled by her family made and distributed hundreds of thousands of pounds of fake cheese, passing it off as 100 percent Parmesan to stores around the country between 2010 and 2013. The other two companies charged — Universal Cheese & Drying Inc. and International Packing LLC — also pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges of conspiracy and money laundering. These companies are no longer operating and have been unable to pay $1 million in fines that were part of their plea agreements.
