A former Prince George’s County, Maryland, police lieutenant was sentenced Thursday to 16 months in federal prison on a federal tax evasion charge.
Authorities said 48-year-old Edward Scott Finn, who owned and operated a private security company called Edward Finn Inc., pleaded guilty in June 2022 to the tax evasion charge for underreporting over $1 million in income from his business.
“Law enforcement officers are not above the law and we will hold them accountable — as we would anyone — for their criminal actions,” U.S. Attorney Erek Barron said in a news release.
From 2014 to 2021, Finn hired off-duty police officers to “provide security services to apartment complexes and other businesses,” mainly in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, court documents and his plea agreement stated.
Finn admitted underreporting a total of over $1.3 million of his business income on his individual tax returns between 2014 and 2019, according to court documents and his plea agreement.
It was during that time that he deposited checks payable to his business to his personal bank accounts. Authorities said Finn also created fraudulent business expenses to decrease his taxes by writing checks to friends and relatives for the alleged services performed, and used the business funds to buy a boat, car and other items.
The total tax loss from the underreported income was $367,765.
Authorities said Finn acknowledged in April 2021 that he started to erase and reset his phone when federal agents went in to arrest him.
In addition to the prison term, Finn will have to serve two years of supervised release. He also will have to pay the full restitution from the tax loss.
Finn had been a member of the Prince George’s County Police Department from December 1995 to April 2021.
