Hershey Woman Pleads Guilty To Filing False Income Tax Returns

HARRISBURG - The United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Connie Bott, age 74, of Hershey, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty before United States District Court judge Jennifer P. Wilson on October 31, 2024, to a charge of filing a false federal income tax return. Bott remains free on her own recognizance.

According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Bott was employed by Autohaus Lancaster, a car dealership and service center in Lancaster, PA. Bott was the bookkeeper and controller for the business. In 2019, the owners of the dealership suspected that Bott was potentially embezzling money from them. When interviewed Bott admitted to stealing money from her employer and, consequently, to making false declarations under penalty of perjury when she filed her federal income tax returns (mailed in Dauphin County, within the Middle District of Pennsylvania) in which she did not report the income she realized from the thefts. US Attorney Karam said the Internal Revenue Service calculated the unreported income as $76,472.74 over 4 years from 2016 through 2019, and additional income tax owed by Bott for that period to be to be $16,825. The unreported income for the sole count of the Information for tax year 2017 is $30,456.68, and the unreported tax for that count is $7,246.

The following federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies participated in the investigation: Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation and Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of the Manheim Township Police Department, and the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office. Assistant United States Attorney William A. Behe prosecuted the case.

The maximum penalty under federal law for this offense is three years of imprisonment, a maximum term of supervised release of one year following imprisonment, and a $100,000 fine. A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

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