TAX EVASION CASE Colucci faces jail time, says attorney

Former clients can apply to a victims' fund in Columbus.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mark S. Colucci, who voluntarily gave up his law license, will likely spend one year in federal prison for tax evasion, his lawyer says.
Canfield attorney David J. Betras said Colucci will plead guilty to the tax charges filed Tuesday in Cleveland federal court. The sentencing range is 12 to 18 months, Betras said.
A 19-count information 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 is being prosecuted by Matthew B. Kall, an assistant U.S. attorney.
"Here's a guy, very intelligent, who got sick," Betras said. "Not physically ill, but there are other illnesses out there. It's sad, very sad."
Betras declined to elaborate on Colucci's illness.
Colucci, 46, of Austintown, 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 resigned his license last week.
The bar association initiated the 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 on July 30, 2002.
Accusations
The bar complaint accused Colucci of engaging in practices that prejudice the administration of justice, neglecting legal matters entrusted to him, charging 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 said Tuesday that Colucci's former clients, many of whom filed police reports to chronicle their complaints, will have to apply to the Client Security Fund in Columbus to see if they qualify for reimbursement.
"Those weren't criminal matters. I don't believe they'll go anywhere," Betras said of the complaints. "I don't think he had the intent to commit crimes. He didn't steal money."
Clients who hire lawyers sometimes think they're buying a product but what they're buying is time and advice, Betras said. Lawyers, he said, can't guarantee outcomes.
Betras said an "avalanche" of complaints were filed by Colucci's former clients. "He wronged a lot of people but it wasn't criminal."
Former client
Laura Farr of Canfield is a former Colucci client who contacted Betras and took his advice in August. She obtained a victim's recovery form from the Mahoning County Bar Association and mailed it to Columbus.
The 44-year-old Canfield woman said Tuesday that getting money from the victims' fund will likely be a "long and tortuous process." She said Colucci told his clients that he will owe the victims' fund what it pays out.
Farr said she paid Colucci $3,750 to represent her in a real estate matter and, after one appearance, he "dodged and delayed." She said Colucci totally snowed her.
If Colucci goes to prison, that's what he deserves, Farr said.
meade@vindy.com