Community Corner
Oak Forest's Blarney Stone Manager Will Serve Time for Trying to Hide Money from IRS
Tom Spellman III admitted he tried to hide more than $1 million from the Internal Revenue Service, and he was sentenced to 1 1/2 years in federal prison.
He's known locally as the friendly face behind the bar at Blarney Stone Pub, but beginning in October, Tom Spellman III will be behind bars of a different sort.
Spellman was sentenced to 1 1/2 years in prison for his part in hiding more than $1 million in cash from the Internal Revenue Service years ago, by depositing it into the bank in little pieces, Sun-Times Media reports.
Spellman, 37, said he got mixed up with a bad business partner while living in Virginia. Spellman and Mathieu Reyna, of Virginia, were indicted in July 2009. Spellman is scheduled to report for his prison sentence Oct. 18.
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The Sun-Times Media report said that according to IRS spokeswoman Kerry Lynn Hannigan, Spellman pleaded guilty in March to conspiring to evade reporting requirements, after admitting he conspired with a business associate to break up large cash deposits into chunks under the $10,000 reporting minimum.
Spellman, of Lemont, helped bring a craft beer festival to the Blarney Stone, 15400 S. Cicero Ave., this summer.
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