MAHONING COUNTY Ex-lawyer pleads guilty to tax evasion

The defendant was sober for years then fell off the wagon, his lawyer says.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Former lawyer Mark S. Colucci has pleaded guilty to tax evasion and, while awaiting sentencing, must continue to see a psychiatrist, his lawyer says.
Colucci, 46, of Austintown, was in Cleveland federal court late Tuesday afternoon to enter his plea. U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. O'Malley set sentencing for Dec. 16.
Colucci had his law license suspended in July by the Ohio Supreme Court after the Mahoning County Bar Association filed a 91-page complaint against him. He voluntarily resigned his license in September.
Canfield attorney David J. Betras said the sentencing range for his client is 12 to 18 months. Colucci is free on unsecured bond.
Betras said "a lot" came out in court about Colucci's psychological disorders, and his psychiatrist wrote to the judge.
Judge's instructions
Betras said Judge O'Malley instructed Colucci to continue his medications and not drink alcohol. Betras said his client suffers from bipolar mood disorder and has alcohol dependence and polysubstance (prescription drug) dependence problems.
Betras said Colucci had been sober for 15 years then fell off the wagon.
"He's on a lot of medications, he's sick, the guy's sick," Betras said after court. "My point is this, I have never stated that Mark's mental disorders rise to level of legal justification but they certainly deserve legal consideration."
Betras said Colucci was hospitalized for a week late last year for his disorders. The lawyer said "bad things" can happen when a professional gets sick, and it has a greater impact.
A 19-count information filed Sept. 28 says Colucci failed to pay the IRS nearly $30,000 in income and Federal Insurance Contributions Act taxes withheld from his employees from 1996 to 2001 and failed to pay $291,149 in personal income tax from 1997 to 2001.
The case was investigated by the IRS Criminal Investigation Division and was prosecuted by Matthew B. Kall, an assistant U.S. attorney.
Initiated probe
The bar association, meanwhile, initiated its investigation after reading in The Vindicator that Colucci skipped a hearing in federal court in Youngstown so he could talk to reporters in Cleveland when ex-U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. was sentenced to eight years in prison July 30, 2002.
The bar complaint accused Colucci of neglecting legal matters entrusted to him, charting or collecting excessive fees, failing to inform a client that he does not have professional liability insurance, and failing to pay clients money they had coming from lawsuits. In addition, Colucci was accused of settling one case without first consulting with his client, accepting fees without doing work for his clients, and charging other clients for a private investigator he never hired.
Betras has said an "avalanche" of complaints were filed by Colucci's former clients. "He wronged a lot of people, but it wasn't criminal."
meade@vindy.com