ORLANDO, Fla. – Doug Gueztloe, the founder of the Florida Tea Party who used his role as an anti-tax activist to generate business for his political consulting company, was sentenced Monday to 15 months in federal prison for failing to file income tax returns.
Doug Guetzloe was found guilty in February of not filing personal income tax returns for 2005 and 2006, years in which he made nearly $400,000.
Federal judge Gregory Presnell noted Guetzloe "has a long history of noncompliance," including filing late or not at all for 10 of 15 years. Guetzloe "breached that moral obligation" to pay his taxes, the judge added.
Guetzloe, 57, faced a minimum of 15 months to two years.
Guetzloe was told to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons no later than 10 days after a prison is designated for him, a process that could take about a month.
The money came from Guetzloe's consulting business, which a grand jury found was paid more than $100,000 in "hush money" by the Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority to dissuade Guetzloe and his group Ax the Tax from criticizing proposed toll increases.
The company, known as Advantage Consultants, also received hundreds of thousands of dollars from a law firm trying to help the authority's then-chairman build a development in Winter Park.
Guetzloe was convicted in state court and sentenced to 60 days in jail for mailing an illegal political flier in 2006 attacking a Winter Park mayoral candidate who opposed the development.
Testimony and evidence in Guetzloe's trial also showed he was being paid during that time by the Orlando Magic, which has said the money was to silence Guetzloe's opposition to a largely taxpayer-funded arena the Magic has since built.
Guetzloe had denied receiving Magic money during that period, but evidence in his trial included an email in which he acknowledged receiving some of the money and demanding payment of the rest of the $100,000.
Guetzloe had no comment after he entered and, later, left the federal courthouse.
"No one wants to go to prison, disappointed he is going to go to prison, of course," said public defender Donald West.
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