Wesley Snipes leaves US prison after tax sentence

Wesley Snipes. AP photo

LEWIS RUN, Pennsylvania — Wesley Snipes has been released from a federal prison in Pennsylvania.

Snipes was convicted in 2008 on tax charges. He was released Tuesday. A Bureau of Corrections spokeswoman said Friday he’ll be overseen by the New York Community Corrections Office until July 19.

Snipes entered the McKean federal prison in December 2010 to begin a three-year sentence for failure to file income tax returns.

The 50-year-old actor has appeared in dozens of films, from “White Men Can’t Jump” and “Demolition Man” in the early 1990s to the blockbuster “Blade” trilogy.

Snipes belonged to a group that challenged the government’s right to collect taxes. U.S. prosecutors say he failed to file returns for at least a decade and owed millions of dollars in back taxes.

Snipes had appealed in an Atlanta court, saying he didn’t get a fair trial.