Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 18, 1990 TAG: 9007180349
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Rose, who was banned from baseball 11 months ago, is scheduled to appear before Judge S. Arthur Spiegel of U.S. District Court in Cincinnati for sentencing on two counts of filing false income tax returns.
Federal sentencing guidelines indicate that Spiegel will send him to prison, perhaps for eight to 14 months. The judge, however, has leeway under the guidelines to sentence Rose to a longer sentence or to no more than probation.
Rose, baseball's all-time leader in hits, pleaded guilty to the charges April 20 in an arrangement with the U.S. attorney's office.
Seldom injured as a player, Rose will appear before Spiegel on crutches. He suffered torn cartilage in his right knee when he fell Sunday while playing with some children at a reunion of his wife's family in Indiana. He is scheduled to have surgery on the knee Friday.
A federal investigation that coincided with major-league baseball's inquiry into Rose's gambling activities uncovered information that Rose failed to report income totaling $354,967.60 in the years 1984-87. He derived the income, the government said, from personal appearances, baseball card shows and the sale of memorabilia.
The tax bill on that total was $162,703.15. That is the key figure as far as the federal sentencing guidelines are concerned.
The guidelines took effect Nov. 1, 1987. Under the plea-bargaining arrangement, Rose pleaded guilty to filing false returns for 1985 and 1987.
The second count falls under the guidelines; the first preceded them; but, because of the similarity of the second count, it could be treated by the judge as if it were governed by the guidelines.
Using the complex method outlined in the 583-page sentencing guidelines manual, the amount of tax that Rose owed places him at offense level 13. On the sentencing table, offense level 13 for a person with no criminal history, a category into which Rose falls, stipulates a sentence of 12 to 18 months.
Federal law enforcement officials in Cincinnati explained, however, that Rose's offense level could drop a couple of notches because of his "acceptance of responsibility," meaning his guilty plea.
But one law enforcement official said: "Spiegel has the reputation for hammering white-collar criminals. He looks more harshly at people who should know better. He has blistered them badly."
by CNB