Rick Patrick
reporter3.riverbendnews@gmail.com
On Tuesday, Oct. 18, former State Attorney for the third judicial circuit, Jeff Siegmeister, finally learned his fate after pleading guilty to four of the charges in his 12-charge indictment. The four charges to which Siegmeister pled guilty were: conspiracy to use a facility of commerce for unlawful activity, conspiracy to interfere with commerce by extortion, wire fraud and filing a false tax return.
According to the judgement, signed by Judge Marcia Morales Howard, United States District Judge for the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Siegmeister “is hereby committed to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons to be imprisoned for a total term of 40 months, consisting of 40 months as to Counts One, Two and Seven and 36 months as to Count 10, all such terms to run concurrently.” After he is released from prison, Siegmeister will have to serve a term of three years of supervised release. As a condition of his supervised release, Siegmeister is ordered to pay outstanding taxes due in the amount of $90,874. He is prohibited from incurring new credit charges, opening additional lines of credit or obligating himself for any major purchases without the approval of his probation officer.
In addition to the prison term and tax payment, Siegmeister is ordered to pay restitution, in the amount of $518,803.30, to the estate of L. Thomas, in care of Heather McInnis, of Branford, Fla. He was also ordered to pay a special assessment of $400, which was due in full and immediately.
Siegmeister was accused of using his position as State Attorney to enrich himself in exchange for light treatment of defendants in criminal cases. One example of which was when Siegmeister lowered the charges in a drunk driving case in exchange for a discounted price on a tractor.
Siegmeister was remanded to the custody of the United States Marshal.