Former Pima County Justice of the Peace and state Rep. Keith Allan Bee has been sentenced to six months in prison for submitting false income tax returns.
According to court records, Bee put more than $1 million of expenses on Schedule C that did not belong there, including the costs to purchase, improve or maintain four single-family homes in Tucson and one in Westport, Washington. He also wrote off multiple high-performance cars in his personal collection, including several Ford Mustangs, a Chevrolet Corvette and a Porsche.
When the IRS called to conduct an audit in 2014, court records say that Bee didnβt come clean and doubled down, providing false and dubious information to the IRS revenue agent during the audit.
He claimed that a luxury home on the east side of Tucson was actually a bus yard and a pool he added and deducted as an expense of his bus company, Bee Line Bus Transportation, was built for use by employees, court records say. He also claimed that a Mustang Cobra parked in his garage on the property was used to drive undercover to check on buses in service.
Bee was indicted in 2018 on three counts of making and subscribing a false income tax return. He pleaded guilty on Aug. 27 and admitted to similar activity for tax years 2011 and 2012 that cheated the government out of $214,414, court records say.
Bee served eight years in the Arizona Senate and two years in the state House of Representatives. He retired from the bench soon after the charges were made public in September 2018.
Bee must surrender by June 15. The court also ordered restitution of $214,414 plus interest.
