Mystic Pizza Owner Sentenced To Prison For Tax Evasion

John Zelepos is well-known for an eye-catching reason. He is the owner of the Mystic Pizza restaurant that was made well-known by a 1988 film of that name, starring Julia Roberts, according to hngn.

Now he is famous for another reason. He has been sentenced to one year and a day in prison Monday, being charged with tax evasion and concealing over $100,000 in income.

At first the owner of the Connecticut restaurant was given 15 years in prison, but later the prosecutors reduced it to a three-year sentence, while his attorneys tried to get him no prison time at all.

The U.S. District Court Judge Victor Bolden also gave him three years probation, fined him $25,000 and ordered $522,658 in forfeiture, said Reuters.

He had been accused last year of not giving his employees their minimum wages, and also not giving them overtime, according to the Daily Meal.Later, he settled the issues with his employees.

Between 2006 and 2011, he appears to have avoided $234,000 in federal taxes, and camouflaged more than $500,000 from the business.

The lawyer argued that Zelepos is indeed committed to paying up whatever he owes. "It would be easy, but wrong, to assume that John Zelepos' financial success resulted from distribution of a Julia Roberts romantic comedy film entitled Mystíc Pizza," said the attorney, according to the Daily Mail. "However, while it is true that the film has for some achieved iconic status, the success of John Zelepos' Mystic Pizza restaurant results not from that notoriety but from John's strong work ethic."