Former Uniontown man can talk to girlfriend, a co-defendant in tax evasion case
A former Uniontown man accused of avoiding $6 million in taxes and penalties associated with his earlier check-kiting case can contact his longtime girlfriend despite her already pleading guilty in the case.
A federal judge in Pittsburgh granted Michael Carlow’s request for bail modification on Thursday, meaning he can speak with longtime girlfriend Elizabeth Jones, who pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to defraud the IRS.
Carlow, 61, now of Upper St. Clair, was charged last year with failing to pay millions in taxes and penalties associated with a 1996 conviction in a $31 million check-kiting scheme.
In the latest case, authorities say Carlow took control of several small businesses and put Jones in positions that allowed him to funnel income through her. Additionally, he is charged with filing fraudulent tax returns for 2003 to 2006.
Jones is charged with conspiring with Carlow to defraud the IRS and for filing fraudulent tax returns for a company she allegedly used as part of the scheme.
His attorneys have a pending motion to dismiss the case against him and have alleged that he consulted with a different defense attorney before hiring them, and one of those attorneys became a deputy federal prosecutor earlier this year. That woman, Tonya Goodman, was briefly assigned to prosecute the case against Carlow.
Defense attorneys Martin A. Dietz and Tina O. Miller have argued that the case against Carlow should be dismissed because Goodman’s assignation to the case violated privilege. In court filings, they questioned if things Carlow may have said during a consultation where Goodman was present for a portion could have prejudiced him.
U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton has recused prosecutors in the state’s western district from handling the case, which is now being prosecuted by attorneys from the tax division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
U.S. Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally from the tax division called dismissal an “unnecessary and extreme remedy.”
A decision is pending in that matter.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.