An Alabama Grand Jury handed down an indictment against a co-owner of Crown Motors – consisting of 100 counts relating to tax and automobile title fraud 60 year Forrest Wayne Frost, turned himself in the same day and posted bond of $98,000.

Frost was charged with 98 counts of Attempting to Evade Alabama Sales Tax, which is a Class C Felony, and two counts of Failure to Deliver Title to a Motor Vehicle, a Class A Misdemeanour.

According to documents from the District Attorney charges stem from an investigation of Crown Motors, Incorporated alleging that the company and Frost as co-owner ‘wilfully caused Crown Motors, to attempt and evade, a substantial part of the sales tax, imposed on the selling of automobiles.’

Those tax funds were due to the State of Alabama and the cities of Anniston and Ft Payne. He is also charged with failing to deliver a certificate of title to a purchaser of a vehicle within the time required by state law.

Frost, who is also a Certified Public Accountant and principle owner of accounting firm Kirkland & Company, was hired by Crown Motors, to prepare taxes for the automobile dealership.

He is accused of under-valuing millions of dollars in sales – and avoiding hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales taxes over several years – primarily between 2004 and 2009 when the business was seized by Alabama Tax Commission Investigators before it was closed months later.

The charges could carry a sentence of up to five years for each felony, and up to a year in jail for the two misdemeanours.