After Being Convicted of a $100 Billion Tax Fraud, Skipping Your Sentence to Hit the Links Is the Next Logical Step

Posted on by Caleb Newquist

If you had recently been convicted of a $100 billion tax fraud and it were the day of your sentencing, how would you spend those last hours of freedom?

Visiting with friends and family, perhaps? Taking one last tumble in the sack with your beloved? Walking your dog? Eating at your favorite restaurant? Squeezing in a couple more episodes of Orange Is the New Black and/or Oz to get yourself mentally prepared?

While those suggestions are all perfectly fine, George Brokaw, John Pawelski and Mimi Vigil had a different idea. They wanted to squeeze in one last round of golf, which isn't a bad idea. 

But then they decided to skip the whole sentencing altogether:

During the carnival-like atmosphere in U.S. District Court on Thursday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Christine M. Arguello granted a request by convicted tax cheats George Brokaw and John Pawelski to postpone their sentencing hearings then threatened extreme measures against Mimi Vigil if she didn't behave.
 
"If you are disruptive next time, I'm going to have you gagged," Arguello said sternly as three U.S. Marshals handcuffed Vigil and escorted the grinning woman out of the courtroom.
 
The three Colorado Springs defendants were arrested Thursday after they failed to appear for sentencing Wednesday. They were escorted into court Thursday afternoon in handcuffs, all wearing street clothes.
 
"We did go golfing. I shot a 49, which was pretty good for me," Pawelski told the judge after she emphasized the seriousness of the felony charges he faced.
Going out on a high note! Nicely done, John.
 

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