Former Pima County Justice of the Peace and State Rep. Keith Allan Bee pleaded guilty last week in federal court to submitting false income tax returns.
“I provided my tax preparer a schedule of assets, including automobiles, for use in depreciating those assets,” Bee said in court documents. “Included in that schedule were automobiles that I knew were not used for business purposes.”
According to the plea agreement, Bee, who served as JP from 2007 to 2018, admitted to the IRS that in the years 2011, 2012 and 2013, he submitted false tax returns totaling $214,414 in unpaid taxes for lavish sports cars he originally claimed were business expenses for his bus company, Bee Line Bus Transportation.
Bee was indicted in 2018 on three counts of filing false tax returns for writing off a 2008 Chevrolet Corvette, several Ford Mustangs of unspecified years and a 2003 Porsche.
Although charges for submitting false tax returns can result in fines up to $250,000 along with facing up to three years in prison and/or five years probation, the plea agreement lays out a suggested sentencing range of up to 10 months of confinement for Bee.
“In other words, defendant may be sentenced to prison and/or home confinement, probation, and, if applicable, supervised released,” it says.
Bee will also pay restitution to the IRS of $343,000, which includes interest on the tax losses.
Bee, a Republican, retired from the bench soon after charges were made public in September 2018. He also served eight years in the Arizona State Senate and two years in the state House of Representatives.
The historic El Conquistador Hotel, designed by Annie Graham Rockfellow, opened in 1928 and was demolished in 1968 to make way for the expansion of El Con Shopping Center, now known as El Con Mall.
