By CAROLYN THOMPSON
Associated Press

BUFFALO - A couple who claimed that they were immune from paying income tax because they relinquished their U.S. citizenship are headed for prison - and divorce - after the wife had a change of heart about her husband's political views.

Before receiving an 18-month prison sentence Friday, Patricia O'Connor, 58, apologized for getting involved in setting up the sham trusts and post-office boxes that allowed her to conceal her $714,000 in income from the Internal Revenue Service over more than a decade.

"After much angst and soul-searching, I know I was wrong, very wrong," O'Connor, a computer consultant, said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Hon. Richard Arcara that went beyond her brief spoken apology.

In the letter, she said she was heavily influenced by her husband, Richard Drachenberg, whom she feared would leave her if she did not go along with his tax protests. She said she was divorcing him because of his "obsession" with his political theories.

Drachenberg, 57, received more than double the prison time his wife did, 40 months, despite being convicted of fewer charges, after sticking firmly to his contention that the court has no jurisdiction over him.

"I do not accept the verdict. I do not accept any sentence," Drachenberg, who represented himself at his trial and sentencing, told the judge.

The judge made both husband and wife responsible for the $216,929.42 due the IRS from the income O'Connor earned.

Following a weeklong jury trial in February, the couple, from the village of Angelica in the foothills of rural Allegany County, were found guilty. O'Connor was convicted on five counts of tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Her husband was charged with and convicted only of conspiracy.

The couple wrote letters to President George W. Bush and other government leaders in 2001 saying they were relinquishing their citizenship. They claimed to be "New York nationals" not subject to federal laws.

"This isn't the first case I've heard this nonsense about not being a citizen of the United States. It's laughable," Arcara said. "It disturbs me that people out there read this garbage and follow it."

The Internal Revenue Service does not keep track of how many people prosecuted for not filing tax returns use the claim, but has seen it enough to warn against it in an educational pamphlet about "frivolous tax arguments" on its Web site, said Timothy Shanahan, spokesman for the IRS's criminal investigation unit in Rochester.

Actor Wesley Snipes may be the most high-profile defendant to declare himself a "nonresident alien" when the IRS investigated him. He was acquitted last year of federal tax fraud and conspiracy but convicted on three misdemeanor counts of failing to file a tax return.

"People need to know that everyone's got to pay their fair share. The IRS criminal investigators will pursue those who don't," Shanahan said.

In 2008, the IRS secured charges against 274 non-filers that resulted in prison sentences for most of them, averaging just under four years.

Arcara gave O'Connor less time than the 33-41 months recommended by federal sentencing guidelines, noting that she was "very much controlled by her husband" and had always paid taxes before getting married.

In sticking to the high end of the guidelines for Drachenberg, Arcara called him "a complete fraud" who had claimed to be a faith healer and college graduate but had barely worked, earning a total of $11,000 from 1996 to 2007, while his wife was supporting him.

"There is no remorse at all apparent in anything you've submitted or said," the judge said, ordering him directly to prison. He allowed O'Connor to surrender later.

She declined to comment as she left the courthouse. Her attorney, James Harrington, said Drachenberg had gotten his information from a loose network of people who share his beliefs.

"He really sincerely believes this. He's very forceful and persuasive, and (O'Connor) bought into it and participated in it for years," Harrington said. "She now realizes it really was crazy and she shouldn't have done it, but she's paying a price for it."