GADSDEN, AL (WBRC) -
A former co-owner of an east Alabama car dealership has been charged with attempting to avoid paying Alabama sales taxes.
The Etowah County District Attorney, in a statement Wednesday to FOX6 News, said Forrest Wayne Frost, 60, of Gadsden, was served Wednesday morning with an indictment handed down by a special session of the Etowah County Grand Jury, charging him with 98 counts of Attempting to Evade Alabama Sales Tax, class C felonies, and two Counts of failure to deliver title to a motor vehicle, Class A Misdemeanors.
The statement said Frost, from 2004 until 2009, was the co-owner and Vice President of Crown Motors and willfully caused Crown Motors to attempt and evade a substantial part of the sales tax imposed on the selling of automobiles. These taxes were due to the State of Alabama, City of Anniston, and City of Ft. Payne.
District Attorney Jimmie Harp said Frost failed to report car sales, inflated the value of vehicles traded in to Crown Motors, and used a self-owned accounting firm to hide the taxes.
"This enabled him to shield much of his activity from his business partners and employees around him," Harp said.
Harp said Frost under-valued millions of dollars in sales and avoided paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales taxes.
Harp said Frost voluntarily surrendered himself Wednesday morning to the Etowah County Sheriff's Department, posted a $98,000 bond, and surrendered his U.S. Passport. If convicted, Harp says each felony Count carries a sentence of up to five years and the misdemeanor counts carry a sentence of up to 12 months in the Etowah County Jail.
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