[chicago-aneinu] Please Daven for WENDY

Wednesday May 18, 2011 6:40 AM

Wendy Weiner Runge (Zeva Rochel bas Chaya), whose story has been covered here on Matzav.com, was sentenced yesterday to a 10-year sentence in Mitchellville women’s prison. The Minnesota filmmaker, a 46-year-old mother of four, has written on this website and elsewhere about how she was ensnared in Iowa’s long-running film tax-incentive debacle.

Judge Douglas Staskal criticized the head of Polynation Pictures before sentencing Wendy.

He said the sentence was a difficult decision to make for a woman with no prior criminal history, but claimed he could not ignore the “complete arrogant and defiant” way in which she had denied responsility for her crime.

“This is a case in my judgment that calls out for the court to send a message to you and others who would engage in this kind of behavior that it’s not accepted,” Staskal said.

The week-and-a-half-long trial was sheld in February.

Wendy wept quietly Tuesday in a corner of the second-floor courtroom before being ushered out by her attorney, Matthew Whitaker.
Whitaker said he had not decided whether to appeal, adding: “We are still weighing our options.”

Runge, an Omaha native, decided to accept a plea agreement proferred by prosecutors after both sides rested in her February trial. The first-degree fraudulent practices charge to which she pleaded guilty did not apply to “The Scientist,” a 2008 film that received $1.85 million in state tax credits.
Rather, she admitted she made false statements to procure tax credits for two uncompleted movies called “Forever” and “Run” before Iowa’s film program was suspended in late 2009.

Runge has repeatedly denied doing anything criminal and professed to be a victim of malicious prosecution and misconduct by state officials.
The case engulfed the fledgling film incentive program a year and a half ago, leading to the firings or resignations of six state economic development managers. Two of Wendy’s former partners who were more cooperative with prosecutors received much lighter sentences Tuesday before Staskal.

Matthias Saunders, a pivotal player in Polynation’s deals with the state, received an up to 10-year suspended sentence for first-degree theft and two years probation, meaning he will stay out of prison if he complies with the terms of his release.

Saunders, 39, who has been living in Georgia, ran a company called Maximux Production Services, and profited from services his company provided that prosecutors said were highly inflated or didn’t exist.

Chase Brandau, 26, also of Minnesota, received a deferred sentencing for second-degree theft. He will be able to wipe the felony from his record if he successfully completes to two years of probation. All three will have to pay restitution to the state, the amounts of which have not yet been determined.
Please continue to daven and say Tehillim for Zeva Rochel bas Chaya.
{Des Moines Register/Matzav.com}