A U.S. District Court judge in Denver has sentenced a Johnstown liquor store owner to 71 months in prison, and the woman who helped him hide $3.2 million from the IRS was ordered to spend 10 months on home detention and probation.
Judge Christine M. Arguello sentenced Alan Timothy Hershey, 50, of Gilcrest and Renee Molinar, 48, of Johnstown for conspiring to defraud the United States and tax evasion.
Hershey, owner of Johnstown Liquor, transferred the store on paper to Molinar in 2001, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney's office in Denver.
The pair used a point of sale record-keeping system at the store that was connected to the store's cash registers and accurately recorded the business's cash, check, and credit card receipts, the release said.
"Molinar would remove a certain amount of the cash receipts before preparing the deposit slips and give that cash to Hershey," it said.
They used a second set of books to conceal the removal of the cash receipts.
To conceal the gross receipts they were skimming from the store, Hershey used others to purchase two other liquor stores and a number of houses with the cash from Johnstown Liquor's gross receipts.
Hershey controlled the operations of the stores, and he and Molinar collected the rents from the houses. Hershey also ran Corona's and More, a liquor store in Bennett.
He failed to pay federal taxes on any of the four stores' $3.2 million in taxable income.
Hershey filed no federal income tax returns from 2001 through 2011, the release said.
He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and two counts of tax evasion.
Hershey was sentenced to serve 71 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, ordered to pay a fine of $100,000 and $1.8 million restitution to the IRS and the Colorado Department of Revenue.
"Hershey engaged in an intricate multiyear scheme to evade paying over $1 million in income tax owed under the law," said U.S. Attorney John Walsh. "Hershey deserves the stiff sentence he received because he not only defrauded the United States, he defrauded every other honest American taxpayer who works hard and pays taxes to support our country."
Molinar was sentenced Wednesday to three years of probation, 10 months of home detention and 100 hours of useful public service. She is required to undergo mental health treatment.
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