Akron Priest ‘father Sam’ Must Be Resentenced, Appeals Court Rules
By Rick Armon
A federal appeals court has overturned the criminal sentence for the Rev. Samuel Ciccolini, the well-known Roman Catholic priest from Akron who pleaded guilty two years ago to banking and tax fraud charges. Ciccolini, better known as Father Sam, must be resentenced because federal Judge James Gwin didn’t have the authority to order him to pay $3.5 million in restitution to the Interval Brotherhood Home Foundation, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati announced Tuesday. Gwin also had sentenced Ciccolini to one day in custody and fined him $350,000. At the time, the judge said he thought it would be more painful for Ciccolini, who had admitted he hoarded money, to pay millions than spend time in prison. The 70-year-old priest had a personal fortune of more than $5.5 million in cash, stocks and bonds at the time of his sentencing. Gwin had questioned how Ciccolini could have accumulated so much money without stealing it. Both the federal prosecutor and defense were upset with the sentence and, in an unusual move, both sides appealed. The U.S. Attorney’s Office argued Ciccolini deserved more time in prison, while the defense said the judge had no right to order restitution since Ciccolini hadn’t been charged with stealing the money from the foundation. In its eight-page decision, the appeals court said it couldn’t simply vacate the restitution order because the judge had relied on it when determining the one-day prison sentence. Gwin’s court is in the process of scheduling a date for the resentencing. The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment. Ciccolini’s attorney, Nancy Jamieson of Cleveland, could not be reached. The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland last year barred Ciccolini from publicly celebrating Mass or hearing confessions while the appeal was ongoing. “We’re waiting to see what happens,” diocesan spokesman Robert Tayek said Tuesday about Ciccolini’s status with the diocese. The priest has been living at Immaculate Conception Church in Akron, he said. The charges stemmed from Ciccolini depositing more than $1 million in bank branches in the Akron area from April to June 2003 by making 139 cash transactions. Banks are required to report deposits of more than $10,000 to federal authorities. He deposited lower amounts to avoid the reporting requirement. He also filed a tax return in 2004 listing his income for the previous year as $101,064 when it was $407,062. Although he faced only one income tax charge, he has admitted other years’ returns also were incorrect. Ciccolini, who headed the foundation and the IBH treatment center in Coventry Township for decades, also admitted to authorities he falsified invoices and financial records to embezzle from the foundation. He paid back $1.28 million to the foundation after being caught and was never charged with stealing the money. Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com
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