Former Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Freddie Mitchell has been sentenced to 37 months in prison for his role in a tax fraud scheme. Mitchell pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges related to tax fraud.
Together with his co-defendants, Jamie Russ-Walls and her husband, Richard Walls, Mitchell secured a pretty large federal income tax refund for himself and tried to convince a fellow professional athlete, known only in Internal Revenue Service documents as “A.G.” to get in on the scheme. “A.G.,” later identified as Drew Gooden, didn’t go through with the scheme so Mitchell, together with Russ-Walls and her husband, did it without him. The three swindled a refund of nearly $2 million from IRS and Mitchell pocketed $280,000 for his role in the scheme.
The feds alleged that Mitchell planned to recruit other professional athletes for the scheme. That didn’t happen – likely because Mitchell got caught, appropriate for the man who once thanked his hands for being so great.
Mitchell was scheduled to go to trial but abruptly changed his mind and took a plea in March. Mitchell had faced up to ten years in prison for his role in the scheme and caught something of a break when Senior U.S. District Judge John Antoon II sentenced Mitchell to 37 months in prison. That sentence did draw some notice for being longer than either of his co-defendants: Russ-Walls escaped prison altogether, receiving just probation for her role in the scheme.
At sentencing, Mitchell’s attorneys requested leniency, noting that he had suffered multiple concussions during his career. How many? Mitchell claims that there were at least eight major concussions. His first was in high school, followed by “probably about four to five” at UCLA. There were additional concussions as a pro, including those suffered at Veterans Stadium as an Eagle.
Why not speak up earlier? Easy, according to Mitchell:
[Y]ou don’t want to report your concussions because each concussion you report can affect the second contract you are striving for; you don’t want to be labeled as damaged goods.
But, Mitchell claims, damaged goods kind of sums up his post-football career. His medical records, he says, will confirm that he has been diagnosed with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). That illness resulted in memory loss and sleeplessness due to painful headaches. It also made him “extremely gullible and naïve.”
Even now, Mitchell says he’s not guilty. He took the plea, he claims, for financial reasons, saying, “I got scammed out of so much money I could not afford to fight the case.”
It’s a sad ending for Mitchell, who once enjoyed a hero-like status in Philadelphia. Mitchell spent four seasons with then-coach Andy Reid’s Philadelphia Eagles, helping the team reach four consecutive NFC East division championships (2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004). As I noted before, he was perhaps best remembered – and loved – for his starring role in the NFC Divisional Playoff Game in 2004:
I, like most Philadelphians, remember it like it was yesterday. It was a Sunday night. The Eagles were playing Brett Favre’s Green Bay Packers at home at Lincoln Financial Field. It had not been a particularly pretty game for the Eagles but quarterback Donovan McNabb seemed to hit his stride in the fourth quarter. But Andy Reid’s time management – and some questionable play calling – had the Eagles down at the end of the game. With practically no time on the clock, the Eagles had the ball.
The drive started out well. Duce Staley, #22, ran for an apropos 22 yards. Then McNabb threw two incomplete passes and was sacked.
I remember the next part with perfect clarity. A power failure knocked out our cable and sent the entire neighborhood scrambling to our cars. Football fans lined up along the street, shivering in the cold, with radios blaring and car doors open (and in many cases, beers on the rooftops). Otherwise, it was remarkably quiet.
Things didn’t look good. It was 4th and 26. No timeouts remaining. McNabb looked down field, found Mitchell and connected, giving the Eagles a first down. The subsequent field goal sent the game into overtime. The Eagles managed to pull out the win and head to the NFC Championship Game, which we eventually lost. That night, however, we were winners. And Mitchell was a hero.
But Mitchell is a hero no more. That label has been replaced with a far less desirable one: felon.
Citing bad advice about the plea agreement from his attorney, Mitchell plans an appeal. Barring additional legal maneuvering, Mitchell will report to authorities on December 6 to begin his prison sentence.
