Jeff Siegmeister sentenced to 3+ years

Jeffrey Siegmeister -Photo: SVT Archives

By Tami Stevenson

Florida’s former Third Judicial Circuit State Attorney Jeffrey Siegmeister was sentenced to 40 months in Jacksonville’s federal court, yesterday, for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from an elderly man, accepting bribes, tax evasion and more.

Siegmeister, after gaining the trust of the voters, was elected and served as state attorney from 2013 until his resignation in December 2019. He was under investigation from the FBI and finally detained February 26, 2021. He was officially arrested on March 1, 2021, in Arizona. Siegmeister remained in custody, without bond, being considered a flight risk. He has been imprisoned since that time. Having already served 20 months, he will have 20 more months to serve, notwithstanding any time off they may grant him for good behavior.

Siegmeister must also make restitution by paying more than $500,000 to the estate of the elderly man he stole from and pay more than $90,000 to the IRS for tax evasion.

David Phelps, former interim state attorney who served after Siegmeister resigned, told News 4 Jax, yesterday, that Siegmeister was known to tell his assistants to increase people’s jail sentences, then while in court yesterday, asked for his own sentence to be decreased. The judge declined.