Another reality star is going to prison. On Oct. 5, Jersey Shore star Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino was sentenced to eight months in prison for tax evasion. He joins a long list of reality television stars who have fallen on the wrong side of the law.
Sorrentino’s case stretched on for years, and he was indicted back in 2014. Earlier this year, he pleaded guilty to a charge of tax evasion and was finally sentenced in a New Jersey federal court house on Friday, Oct. 5.
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His attorneys hoped he would only get probation so the MTV personality’s efforts to stay sober could continue. Sorrentino’s attorneys also asked for the start of his sentence to be delayed until after he marries his college sweetheart, Lauren Pesce.
While reality TV stars’ lives are often edited for time on television, they still cannot escape the law. Scroll on for a look at 10 reality stars who went to jail.
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Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino
Sorrentino’s jail sentence has yet to begin, but he will spend at least a few months behind bars. On Friday, he was sentenced to eight months in jail, plus 500 hours of community service, a $10,000 fine and two years of supervised release. He also paid $123,913 in restitution.
The Jersey Shore star was indicted on tax evasionย in 2014, but it was not until January 2018 that he entered a guilty plea. Sorrentino and his brother Marc Sorrentino did not pay $8.9 million worth of income tax from 2010 to 2012, according to the government. Marc was sentenced to two years in prison and a $75,000 fine after he pleaded guilty to one count of aiding in the preparation of a fake tax return.
“Mike accepts the courts decision and looks forward to marrying his college sweetheart, Lauren Pesce and moving forward together after serving his sentence,” Sorrentino’s reps said in a statement. “He anticipates to come back stronger as an individual and couple in the same healthy mind set that he has had for the last 3 years. He and Lauren are both so thankful for everyone’s support and prayers!”
Abby Lee Miller
Abby Lee Dance Company founder Abby Lee Miller, who starred on Lifetime’s Dance Moms, was indicted on bankruptcy fraud in 2015 for allegedly hiding income from her businesses in a secret bank account. Miller reached a plea bargain and was sentenced to a year in prison with two years of supervised release.
She started her sentence in July 2017, but was released to a halfway house in March 2018. A month later, she was diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma, which she continues to fight. She left rehab in early September and is reportedly involved in a new season of Dance Moms.
Teresa Giudice
Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice and her husband, Joe Giudice, pleaded guilty to 41 counts of fraud, including bankruptcy, mail, bank and wire fraud, in 2014. Teresa was sentenced to 15 months in prison, but spent 11 months before she was released in December 2015. Joe is serving a 41-month prison sentence.
“I do blame him because if he was on top of everything then this wouldn’t have happened,” Teresa told ABC Newsย last year. “He keeps saying, ‘You just got to move on from this. You can’t keep bringing up the past.’ It’s true. I need to let it go and move on.”
Will Hayden
Will Hayden starred on Discovery’s Sons of Guns and owned Red Jacket Firearms. He has been in prison since 2017, when he was sentenced to life in prison for sex crimes. In 2014, he was arrested for molestation of a juvenile and later charged with rape. His oldest daughter also accused him of rape. He received three life sentences, plus 40 years in prison.
Richard Wyatt
Richard Wyatt starred on Discovery’s American Guns. In March 2018, he was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison (78 months) for tax fraud and conspiracy. He was ordered to surrender 490 guns.
After he is released from prison, Wyatt will have three years of supervised release. He reportedly continued selling guns after he lost his federal license to do so.
Timothy R. Zuckuhr
In 2015, former Ice Road Truckers: Deadliest Roads star Timothy R. Zickuhr was sentenced to five to 15 yearsย in prison for kidnapping a prostitute.
He claimed the woman owed him $1,000 after he gave her his ATM card to pay herself in 2013. Prosecutors said he tied her up, beat her and poured ice water on her because he thought she took more money that she was owed
Amber Portwood
Teen Mom star Amber Portwood spent only 16 months of a five-year sentence for violating her probation from a felony drug charge. She was released from prison in 2013. Portwoodย has struggled with a pill addiction during her teens and was charged with domestic violence in 2010 for abusing her then-boyfriend Gary Shirley. Today, sheย is still a part of the Teen Mom OG family.
She recently told Us Weekly that her daughter with Shirley, Leah, knows that her mother struggled with drug abuse.
“Leah doesn’t really know much about my mental health,” she said. “She just knows about [how] Mommy had, like, trouble in the past for drugs, and that’s kind of where we’re going to keep that until we get to a place where she really understands.”
Kieffer Delp
Teen Mom 2‘s Kieffer Delp was sentenced to 18 to 36 months in prison in August. He pleaded guilty to counts related to operating a methamphetamineย lab.
Delp is the ex-boyfriend of Jenelle Evans and appeared in the first four seasons of Teen Mom 2. When she was 19, Evans moved to New Jersey to live with Delp. She claimed she used marijuana and heroin when they were dating.
Scott Menaged
In December 2017, former Property Wars star Scott Menaged was sentenced to 17 years in prison for multiple fraud schemes that involved over 200 victims. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona said the money he embezzled from his victims in loans supportedย his “lavish lifestyle.”
The judge ordered Menaged to pay $35.5 million in restitution to his victims.
Baron Colon
Baron Colon, a contestant on MTV’s From G’s to Gents in 2009, was convicted for his role in a 2006 murder in September 2015. He was not arrested until 2011, when he confessed to the murder to an undercover Miami-Dade police officer.
Prosecutors said he knew he was a suspect in the murder of art dealer Marcelo Vera when he appeared on the MTV show. By law, the judge was required to sentence Colon to life in prison for first-degree murder.
