July 19 Set for Rose Sentencing on Tax Charges

A U.S. District judge has set July 19 as the date for Pete Rose’s sentencing on felony tax charges. Rose faces up to six years in prison and a maximum $500,000 fine after admitting that he filed false income tax returns.

“He’s concerned and very much aware of the seriousness of the situation he’s in right now,” Rose’s spokeswoman, Barbara Pinzka, said of baseball’s all-time hit leader, who was banned for life from baseball last August for illegal gambling and has kept a low profile while awaiting sentencing.

U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel has a lot of leeway in sentencing Rose, who pleaded guilty to two tax charges as part of an agreement with federal prosecutors. Rose admitted he failed to report income from his autograph appearances, memorabilia sales and gambling.

One of the tax offenses falls under federal sentencing guidelines that went into effect Nov. 1, 1987. The guidelines require judges to look at a specific grid to determine a sentence, with mitigating factors possibly increasing or decreasing the severity.

Rose could get probation on the first count, but the second appears to fall on the border between a prison sentence and probation. Rose’s position on the grid depends in part on how the judge factors in his level of involvement in the crime and the money involved.