Accountant Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for $8 Million Tax Fraud

PHILADELPHIA - United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Rodney Ermel, 71, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was sentenced today to 30 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $8,087,385 in restitution to the IRS by United States District Judge Mark A. Kearney for tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

The defendant was charged with those offenses by superseding indictment in March 2024 and pleaded guilty in April of this year.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Ermel owned and managed a Colorado-based accounting firm. Along with co-defendant Kenneth Bacon, Ermel provided accounting and tax preparation services for co-defendant Joseph LaForte, LaForte's wife and co-defendant Lisa McElhone, and their business entities. Ermel conspired with LaForte, Bacon, and others to hide approximately $20 million in income.

He did this through various fraudulent accounting practices, such as fabricating shareholder loans and "bad debt" deductions. Ermel also filed tax returns which he knew underreported taxable income by over $20 million between 2016 and 2018. Ermel's fraud caused a loss to the United States of over $8 million.

This case was investigated by the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Matthew Newcomer and John J. Boscia for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Trial Attorney Ezra Spiro of the Justice Department's Tax Division.

Note: the posting of this press release was delayed, due to the federal government shutdown from October 1, 2025, to November 12, 2025.