Charles L. Blomquist III, 52, owner of the immense and conspicuous blue-roofed, castle-like, lakeside mansion on West Lake Road, was sentenced to 87 months in federal prison last week in U.S. District Court in Syracuse for money-laundering and tax fraud.
Blomquist, who pleaded guilty to three drug trafficking-related felony charges on July 22, previously admitted to acquiring a significant amount of money from “specified illegal activities” and moving the proceeds to overseas bank accounts where it would be more difficult for the Internal Revenue Service and other federal law enforcement agencies to locate. He also admitted that he willfully failed to report interest income from various bank accounts and that he lied on his federal income tax returns in order to disguise and conceal the proceeds from his unlawful activities.
While Blomquist never admitted his money came from drug-related activities, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Clymer said the money came from selling both cocaine and marijuana as far back as the 1980s.
Blomquist admitted in court in July that he paid for the construction of his $1.7 million, 6,000-square-foot home at 1808. W. Lake Road completely in cash and from the proceeds of his admitted illegal activities.
That house, as part of Blomquist’s plea deal with the U.S. Attorney, will be auctioned off by the IRS, with the proceeds used to repay Blomquist’s unpaid taxes.
U.S. District Judge Norman Mordue agreed at the sentencing trail to ask the federal Bureau of Prisons to let Blomquist serve his time at McKean federal prison in Pennsylvania, in order to be closer to his family. Blomquist also was ordered to participate in drug treatment and testing once he is released, and to pay for part of that treatment if he is able.
Blomquist’s ex-wife, Dorothea Wied Blomquist, was in the courtroom last week for her ex-husband’s sentencing. In January, she was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison for failure to report a foreign bank account and tax fraud. She began her sentence last week, which will be followed by three years of supervised release.
