(DUBLIN, Calif.) — Oscar-nominated actress Felicity Huffman, who pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the massive “Varsity Blues” college entrance scandal that ensnared her and dozens of parents, reported to a Northern California prison on Tuesday to begin serving a 14-day sentence, according to her representative.
Huffman, 56, reported to the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, Calif., about 25 miles southeast of Oakland, according to a statement released to ABC News by her spokesman.
Huffman was sentenced in September by Boston federal court Judge Indira Talwani after the actress pleaded guilty earlier this year to a charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
“Ms. Huffman is prepared to serve the term of imprisonment Judge Talwani ordered as one part of the punishment she imposed for Ms. Huffman’s actions. She will begin serving the remainder of the sentence Judge Talwani impose — one year of supervised release, with conditions including 250 hours of community service — when she is released,” reads thye statement from her representative.
The former Desperate Housewives star was also ordered to pay a fine of $20,000.
She had been given until Oct. 25 to report to prison. Her representative did not explain why Huffman decided to begin serving her sentence now.
Huffman — who was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in the 2005 film Transamerica — pleaded guilty on May 13 and acknowledged she paid $15,000 to arrange for a college entrance exam proctor to correct her daughter Sophia’s SAT answers and for her daughter to be allowed more time to take the test.
On March 13, a federal indictment was unsealed with charges for 50 people, including Huffman and more than 30 other wealthy parents, in the largest college cheating scam ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice.
The indictment alleged the parents paid bribes to William “Rick” Singer, a college-entrance tutor guru whom prosecutors identified as the ringleader of the nationwide scam, to get their children into elite colleges, including Stanford, the University of Southern California, Princeton and Georgetown.
Singer, 59, who prosecutors said collected $25 million in bribes during the years-long scam, pleaded guilty in March to racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of justice. He’s yet to be sentenced.
During her sentencing hearing on Sept. 13, Huffman, through tears, told Talwani that she accepted her punishment “without reservation.”
“I broke the law,” Huffman said in court. “I have admitted that and I pleaded guilty to this crime. There are no excuses or justifications for my actions. Period.”
She went on to publicly apologize to her daughter, her husband actor William H. Macy, her family and the educational community.
“And I especially want to apologize to the students who work hard every day to get into college, and to their parents who make tremendous sacrifices supporting their children,” Huffman said.
Before announcing her decision, Talwani said she was not punishing Huffman — and won’t punish the other parents either — for a flawed college admissions process. Instead, the judge focused on why there is such a sense of outrage surrounding the case, saying that it is because the system is already so distorted and that Huffman took the step of obtaining one more advantage to put her child ahead of others.
Also indicted was actress Lori Loughlin — best known as Aunt Becky on the sitcom Full House — and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, who are fighting charges they paid Singer $500,000 to get their two daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella, into USC as recruits for the university’s crew team, despite the fact they’d never participated in the sport.
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