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Cregg Paul, co-owner of Center Street Smokehouse, was sentenced to five years probation this afternoon by Judge Robert Noonan in Genesee County Court. Paul had been convicted of a felony count of repeated failure to file corporate tax returns in September. He could have faced up to four years in prison.

"Do I feel that incarceration is appropropriate or necessary? No. I don't," Noonan said prior to sentencing Paul to a probation which included 200 hours of community service to be completed before September 1.

The sentencing, which was scheduled for 1:30pm, was postponed for nearly 45 minutes. When Noonan took the bench he waved a stack of papers at the attorneys seated before him. They were "a whole book of letters" written by community members in support of Cregg Paul that was only given to the judge earlier today, he said. Hence the late start: It took some time to get through them all.

"Mr. Paul is head and shoulders above the average person who gets convicted of a felony in front of me," said Noonan. "There were many, many letters, not just from family and friends ... people who spoke of the defendant's contribution to the community."

Paul was given 60 days to file the tax returns that were the subject of the trial, dating from the filing years 2000, 2001 and 2002. Noonan said that he was not "satisfied" by the prosecution's evidence, and not confident enough in the numbers to enforce the requested restitution that totalled more than $488,000.

District Attorney Cydney Kelly protested that Paul's sentencing had already been adjourned from its original date of December 10 so that the returns could be filed.

"We already gave him until now to do that," she said. "He has not."

When it was his turn to speak, Paul accepted the responsibility of the charges.

"This has been going on in my life for four years," he said. "I've paid a high price personally and financially."

"It was my responsibility," he added. "And it didn't get done. I'm here today to accept any consequences of those actions."

In June, Paul rejected a plea deal, opting instead to go to trial to face accusations of tax evasion. Those charges included: repeated failure to file corporate tax returns, offering a false instrument for filing and filing false returns on corporate taxes. At that time, Paul had told Daily News reporter Scott DeSmit that "he is being targeted by over-zealous state prosecutors."

When Paul was convicted of repeated failure to file coporate tax returns for his company, Employee Leasing Network, in September, he was also acquitted of four other felony charges and four misdemeanors related to the returns.