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Have Nerve, Will Travel

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 17, 2008

When facing federal charges of tax evasion, actor Wesley Snipes said he couldn't get a fair trial in Ocala. But now it looks like the court can't do enough to accommodate the prison-bound star.

U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges recently granted Snipes permission to go to London to finish the film "Gallowwalker." And he's given him permission to go to Thailand in September to film an action flick called "Chasing the Dragon." Snipes was sentenced to three years in prison this spring for failing to file income-tax returns for several years, but has been free on bail while attorneys appeal his conviction.

Snipes is now a federal convict who deserves no extraordinary privileges. Yet he is being treated with kid gloves.

It may be reasonable to allow the actor to go to London to complete an unfinished project, since his absence would create an undue hardship on the movie company saddled with an unfinished project.

But traveling to Thailand to start a new movie is going too far.

What next? A promotional tour?

The actor's attorneys contend that if Snipes were to flee, he'd be unable to earn a living in his profession. Nonsense. Does the name Roman Polanski ring any bells? If a statutory rape charge doesn't turn a celebrity into a pariah, a tax evasion case certainly won't.

Snipes, who spent years trying to elude his tax bills, is working the system again.

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