Christmas Light Business Owner Guilty Of Tax Evasion: Authorities

PRIOR LAKE, MN — A business owner from Prior Lake pleaded guilty Monday to tax evasion resulting in a loss of over $400,000 to the Internal Revenue Service, according to authorities.

Robert Schlosser owned a business from 2000 to 2023 that installed Christmas lights, special event lighting and decoration displays, authorities said. He filed for bankruptcy in 2018 and listed the IRS as a creditor for unpaid federal income taxes, but tried to evade payment of delinquent taxes using false bunkruptcy schedules that hid assets and caused a tax loss to the agency of $429,848, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Schlosser faces up to five years in prison, supervised release and monetary penalities, authorities said.