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	Attorney Seeks to Overturn $3.5 Million Restitution Order for Father Sam By Rick Armon Beacon Journal June 3, 2011 http://www.ohio.com/news/break_news/123144673.html The Rev. Samuel Ciccolini shouldn't have to pay $3.5 million in restitution to the Interval Brotherhood Home Foundation as ordered by a federal judge last year, his attorney said in a new court filing. Defense attorney Carolyn Kaye Ranke called U.S. District Judge James Gwin's decision "illegal" because the well-known Roman Catholic priest from Akron wasn't convicted of stealing money from the nonprofit. She filed a 34-page brief this week in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati to support the priest's ongoing appeal of his sentence. Ciccolini, better known as "Father Sam," pleaded guilty last year to federal banking and tax fraud charges involving his personal finances. The priest, who headed the foundation and the IBH treatment center in Coventry Township for decades, also admitted that he falsified invoices and financial records to embezzle from the foundation. But he paid back $1.28 million to the foundation after being caught and was never charged with stealing the money. "Simply put, the district court abused its discretion in imposing an order of restitution to the [foundation] and such order must be vacated as a matter of law," Ranke wrote. Gwin based his restitution order on a pre-sentence investigation report that found the priest had more than $5.59 million in cash, stocks and bonds. During the sentencing, the judge questioned how a priest could have accumulated so much personal wealth if he hadn't stolen the money. In addition to the restitution order, Gwin imposed a $350,000 fine and one-day prison sentence. Ranke wrote that the prison sentence was "reasonable." In March, federal prosecutors appealed the sentence and made the same argument about the restitution order. However, the U.S. Attorney's Office also argued that the one-day prison sentence wasn't harsh enough. The average sentence nationwide for similar tax offenses was 22.4 months, the federal appeal says. Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com.
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