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Sep 27, 2008 4:08 pm US/Eastern
Milton Street Sentenced To Time In Prison
PHILADELPHIA (AP) ―
T. Milton Street Sr., the older brother of former Philadelphia Mayor John Street, was sentenced Friday to 2 1/2 years in prison for not filing tax returns. He was also ordered to pay the IRS more than $413,000 in restitution.
Milton Street, who willfully avoided paying taxes on nearly $3 million in income, was handcuffed in the courtroom and ordered to start serving his time immediately.
Street, 69, of Moorestown, N.J., was convicted in February of three tax-evasion charges and acquitted of four fraud counts over what prosecutors had described as a kickback scheme at the city-owned airport.
Prosecutors had accused him of taking advantage of his relationship with the mayor to make $30,000 a month as a consultant and minority subcontractor who did little or no work from 2001 to 2004. The jury, however, concluded prosecutors only proved that Street failed to report the consulting fees for tax purposes.
Street told U.S. District Judge Legrome Davis he had a hard time keeping track of his finances and had given at least some of his money to the poor.
"The money was like ice. It was melting as fast as I was getting it," Street said.
Street, a former hot dog vendor, was once a well-known activist who turned his local fame into a six-year stint in the Legislature -- a state House term in 1979-80 and a Senate term from 1981 to 1984.
Davis said Street had let down the people of North Philadelphia for whom he once advocated.
"You had a chance to do some really, really good things," Davis said. "In this instance, you squandered it because of the money -- the ridiculous amounts of money these people were throwing at you."
In recent years, Street became known as John Street's eccentric older brother.
He started an amphibious duck-boat tour operation that ran into trouble for trying to usurp a boat ramp used by an already established competitor.
Last year, he ran for an at-large seat for City Council despite the indictment, questions about his residency and the fact his nephew -- John Street's son -- was also in the race. The campaign came after a promised bid for mayor and a bizarre, but sparsely attended, rally where he sang and preached on a stage alongside a gospel keyboardist and a coffin meant to symbolize the city's murder victims.
John Street served two terms as mayor and left office at the beginning of this year because of term limits.
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