Jersey Shore's Vinny Guadagnino Calls on Kim Kardashian to Free Mike 'The Situation' Sorrentino
Vinny Guadagnino wants Kim Kardashian West to step in and help free Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino from prison.
The Jersey Shore star, 31, delivered his pitch to the Kardashian West on Tuesday, explaining that his fellow cast mate — who reported to the Otisville Federal Correctional Institution last week — would do more good for society if he were released from prison.
“Kim, Mike is an amazing person. To me, he’s completely reformed,” Guadagnino told TMZ. “He’s a great member of society. He preaches to kids that have addictions; he’s a big advocate and evangelist for recovery. He’d be better off out here helping people.”
“Kim, get on that!” he added.
The KKW Beauty mogul, 38, has previously helped free prisoners who have received extreme sentences for drug charges.
In June 2018, Kardashian West first met with President Donald Trump to advocate on behalf of Alice Marie Johnson, a 63-year-old first-time nonviolent drug offender who in 1996 was given a life sentence without parole.
A few days later, the White House announced Johnson would receive clemency and be freed.
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The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star has since advocated for other inmates including Chris Young and Cyntoia Brown. She also recently lauded Trump for signing a federal criminal justice reform bill that allowed the release of Matthew Charles.
Sorrentino, 36, and his brother Marc were indicted in September 2014 for tax offenses and conspiring to defraud the United States after allegedly failing to properly pay taxes on $8.9 million in income from 2010 to 2012. In April 2017, both men were indicted on additional charges including tax evasion, structuring and falsifying records.
Sorrentino pled guilty to one count of tax evasion in January 2018, and his brother Marc pled guilty to one count of aiding in the preparation of a false and fraudulent tax return. In October 2018, Sorrentino was sentenced to eight months in prison and two years of supervised release, and Marc was sentenced to two years.
Sorrentino was also ordered to complete 500 hours of community service and was given $123,913 in restitution, which he has already paid, plus a fine of $10,000.
Of his time in prison so far, Guadagnino explained to TMZ that Sorrentino was “doing great” and he was planning to visit his friend soon.
“I knew he was gonna do good; he was never nervous about it,” he revealed. “[His wife] Lauren [Pesce] told us that he’s doing great. They’re updating us on Twitter and Instagram so he’s gonna be alright.”
“He’s so strong mentally from his recovery process that it’s working out for him in jail,” Guadagnino added. “Mike is the type of guy now that looks for the positive in every situation.”
This is not the first time that Guadagnino has opened up about his friend going to prison. The Jersey Shore star recently revealed what Sorrentino’s final days as a freeman were like before beginning his eight-month sentence for tax evasion.
“Mike is holding up really well, honestly, it’s getting close, so I’m like ‘Uhh is it… is it going to start to get sad?’ Like I’m waiting for him to get sad, nope, [he’s] still eating McDonald’s, posting and sending me his food,” he explained at the premiere party for MTV’s new show Lindsay Lohan’s Beach Club.
RELATED VIDEO: Mike ‘The Situation’ Sorrentino Says Tax Evasion Sentencing Will Bring ‘Closure, Finally’
Guadagnino praised his costar, describing Sorrentino as “the most mentally strong person” he knows.
“It’s from all the things he had to go through so like in a weird way, whatever he’s done in the past, like the bad things, have made him an amazing person so it’s kind of bittersweet that he has to go away,” Guadagnino said.
“On and off the show he is the best friend, he’ll give you the shirt off his back,” he added. “He had an addiction problem, you know what I mean, to substances, and he had to go through the program and it’s like retrained his brain completely and now he applies that to all of these other things, like when he has to go away.”
