Goalie Entertainment owner Edward Wedelstedt on Thursday was sentenced to 13 months in Englewood Federal Prison Camp in Littleton, Colorado as part of his guilty plea to one count of obscenity.
There was no fine imposed, however he will be making restitution to the government in the amount of $325,000. That money will be obtained from the sale of three adult retail properties that he owns and has now forfeited in Abilene, Amarillo and Merkel, Texas.
All the other charges against Wedelstedt and his wife Vivian, and Goalie Entertainment Holdings have been dismissed with prejudice, meaning they cannot be brought against him again. Wedelstedt also must perform 120 hours of community service to be completed within one year of his release.
In November, he pled guilty to two counts in a 23-count indictment. The first count was for interstate transportation of obscene material with intent to distribute. He also pled guilty to a tax offense.
“With respect to the tax offense, Mr. Wedelstedt conceded that between 1997 and 1999 he gave some employees cash bonuses in which those employees did not pay their own taxes on," his attorney Hank Asbill noted after the plea. "During each of those three years, the average tax loss to the government was $40,000 a year. During that same time, Eddie and his company overpaid their taxes by many hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not low millions of dollars.”
U.S. District Court Judge Ed Kinkeade handed down the sentence in Courtroom 1625 of the Earle Cabell Federal Building of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
The expectation is that Wedelstedt will not spend the full 13 months in prison camp.
Arthur Boten, a Goalie employee from Des Moines, Iowa, who was a co-defendant in the case, was sentenced at the same time. Boten also pled guilty and his sentence was two years probation and a $2,000 fine. He has to do 100 hours of community service.
The court day contained some unusual moments, such as the court crier opening the session by saying, “Let us pray. God bless the United States and this honorable court.”
After the sentencing, Judge Kinkeade remarked that Wedelstedt is “64 years old and has most of his life in front of him.”
“You’ve done things about half right,” Kinkeade told him. “I want you to do the right thing for the right reasons” which apparently includes getting out of the adult business.
The judge continued, “When you’re sitting in front of the fire, you can’t feel great about your work. You need to do something else with your life.”
Then off the record, the judge made additional, opinionated remarks. He said he saw the videos named in the obscenity count, and commented, “That’s somebody’s father. That’s somebody’s sister.”
He added, “I’m going to be very stiff on you guys to follow the rules,” indicating if there were any future infractions while in prison or during the course of his probation that he would come down hard. Judge Kinkeade said he would be following the Eddie’s Kids website and hoped he didn’t see any “smut” on it.
Representing Wedelstedt in court were Asbill and attorneys Barry Boss and Gary Sims, all of whom are from Washington D.C. The government was represented by Linda Groves, Steve Grocki (from the Department of Justice) and John Della Garza.
There were additional members of the defense team in the audience, including Dallas attorney Richard Anderson, Brad Reich and Marlo Cadeddu. Wedelstedt’s wife Vivian, his daughter Beverly and Connecticut attorney Dan Silver were also present along with about five people who appeared to be with a religious right organization.
Mike Teilmann, a retired U.S. general, appeared as a character witness on Wedelstedt’s behalf. Teilmann now works with the USO at Los Angeles International airport where he assists incoming enlisted men.
