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OCALA, Fla. – Wesley Snipes called on famous friends to vouch for him, highlighted his clean criminal record and even wrote the government $5 million in checks – all in an effort to convince a judge that his conviction on tax charges should cost him nothing more than home detention and some public service announcements.

None of it worked. The Blade actor was ordered to do hard time.

Mr. Snipes was sentenced to three years in prison Thursday for failing to file tax returns, the maximum penalty – and a victory for prosecutors who sought to make an example of the action star.

U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges said Mr. Snipes exhibited a "history of contempt over a period of time" for U.S. tax laws, and granted prosecutors the three-year sentence they requested – one year for each of Mr. Snipes' convictions of willfully failing to file a tax return from 1999 to 2001.

"In my mind these are serious crimes, albeit misdemeanors," Judge Hodges said.

Mr. Snipes apologized while reading from a written statement for his "costly mistakes," but never mentioned the word taxes.

"I am an idealistic, naive, passionate, truth-seeking, spiritually motivated artist, unschooled in the science of law and finance," Mr. Snipes said. He said his wealth and celebrity attracted "wolves and jackals like flies are attracted to meat." He called himself "well-intentioned, but miseducated."

The Associated Press