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New charges against former Traffic Court judge

He was the only former Philadelphia Traffic Court judge to walk free after a hard-fought federal corruption trial last year.

He was the only former Philadelphia Traffic Court judge to walk free after a hard-fought federal corruption trial last year.

Now, prosecutors are taking aim at Michael J. Sullivan for a second shot - even if one of his lawyers is already calling it a cheap one.

"It's what you call sore-loser charges," attorney Sam Stretton said of the misdemeanor tax-fraud case filed against Sullivan on Tuesday. "That's a pretty sad day for the federal government, if they're reduced to this type of approach."

Prosecutors declined to respond. In court filings, they accuse Sullivan, a former ward leader and union operating engineer, of failing to report and pay payroll taxes at his South Philadelphia dive bar, the Fireside Tavern.

On tax forms, the business reported having only one employee. Investigators allege that for seven years it paid the rest of its staff under the table.

Sullivan could not be reached for comment Tuesday. His criminal lawyer, Henry E. Hockeimer Jr., said he had already reached a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty.

Hockeimer was more reserved in discussing the case than Stretton, who is representing Sullivan in a separate fight before the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline.

"By agreeing to accept responsibility for this misdemeanor tax charge, Mr. Sullivan is hopeful that the government's focus on him and his family will come to an end," Hockeimer said.

FBI agents first raided the Fireside, near Marshall Street and Oregon Avenue, in 2011 as part of their investigation into rampant corruption at Traffic Court.

Sources familiar with the current investigation say some of the documents supporting the tax case were seized during that search of the bar and one at Sullivan's house four years ago.

But at the time, investigators had a larger case in mind. They filed a sprawling conspiracy and fraud indictment against Sullivan and six other judges on the court in January 2013. Prosecutors alleged that for years they fixed tickets for friends, family members, and political allies.

While a federal jury agreed that Traffic Court's corruption was endemic, it decided after a two-month trial that the ticket-fixing the government outlined was more a judicial ethics problem than a federal crime.

It acquitted the five judges who took their case to trial on the most significant counts against them, while convicting four on lesser charges of lying to federal authorities.

Sullivan, the only judge who never agreed to talk to FBI agents or testify before the grand jury, walked free.

"As far as I'm concerned, I was indicted for doing my job," he said moments after the July 24, 2014, verdict.

Still, the past year hasn't been easy.

Last month, the Court of Judicial Discipline denied Sullivan back pay for the time he was suspended due to the FBI investigation. Stretton said he plans to appeal that decision to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

And while Sullivan still retains his elected title as a judge until his term ends in 2017, state lawmakers dismantled Traffic Court, and judicial authorities have suspended him while pursuing a separate case before the disciplinary court over his purported ticket-fixing.

Meanwhile, Stretton said, Sullivan has been working in construction.

A federal judge has not set a date for him to enter his expected guilty plea in the tax case.