Wesley Snipes Released From Prison After Serving 3 Years On Tax Evasion Charges

Actor Wesley Snipes was released from a prison in Pennsylvania where he spent the better part of three years on tax evasion charges, but the “Passenger 57” star can’t be called a free man just yet.

Snipes, 50, has to complete the remaining four months of his sentence under house arrest, a U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons representative told Reuters. The actor was released from the northwestern Pennsylvania prison Tuesday, although media reports of his release first surfaced Friday.

The “Blade” trilogy star was convicted in 2008 on three misdemeanor counts for failing to file income-tax returns. However, he was also acquitted of more serious charges of fraud and filings false tax claims.

Snipes will complete his sentence July 19, when he will become a free man after finishing his house arrest.

Federal prosecutors claimed the actor made more than $38 million from 1999 to 2006, but didn’t file income-tax returns or pay taxes during that span.

A jury convicting him of failing to file returns in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

It’s unclear where Snipes will serve out his house arrest. Reuters noted that at the time of his 2008 conviction the actor was a resident of Orlando, Fla. For much of the past three years, of course, Snipes has called the McKean Federal Correctional Institution home.

There were strong signs that Snipes may be living under house arrest in New York or New Jersey since federal records showed the actor is under the supervision of the New York Community Corrections Office. The office’s jurisdiction includes the Bronx, Brooklyn and New Jersey, Reuters reported.

Snipes was known as Inmate No. 43355-018 in the Pennsylvania prison where he was recently released.