A southwest Iowa man has been sentenced to half-a-year of “home confinement” for income tax evasion.  

Forty-three-year-old Scott Eugene Mitchell of Afton ran a business called Central Iowa Amusements. Prosecutors say Mitchell hid profits he was making from the rental of Iowa Lottery “TouchPlay” machines in 2004, 2005 and 2006. TouchPlay machines had been placed in convenience stores and other businesses to sell Lottery tickets, but legislators yanked the machines in May of 2006 after complaints. 

Mitchell — the Afton man accused of tax evasion — has been sentenced to three years of probation and, for the first six months of that sentence, he is not to leave his home.  A judge has ordered Mitchell to pay the taxes he owes the federal government, too.  According to a news release from federal prosecutors, Mitchell’s back taxes could amount to about $150,000.