Eight years after Ann Harris pleaded guilty to her part in her millionaire boss’s tax evasion scheme — a plea that first brought to light the yearslong investigation into the massive web of fraud— a federal judge has sentenced her to two years of probation.
The sentence bookends the 15-year saga of that millionaire boss, Joe Nocito Sr., and his Bell Acres mansion that fraud built — his sprawling “Villa Noci,” believed to be the largest home in Pennsylvania.
For years Harris was the bookkeeper, secretary and personal assistant to Nocito, the CEO of Nocito Enterprises, Automated Health Services, and some half-dozen other companies.
In that role, Harris furthered her boss’s fraud by writing checks from his companies to pay for extravagant personal expenses, including the construction of the Nocito’s 39,000-square-foot mansion and its lavish amenities. Those checks would then be passed off as vague business expenses like “consulting” and “advertising.”
Harris, now 61, pleaded guilty Nov. 27, 2015, to one count of conspiracy to defraud the IRS.
Her attorney, James E. DePasquale, had asked U.S. District Judge Joy Conti Flowers for leniency — specifically, no further sentence, noting Harris has been under the supervision of pre-trial services for more than eight years.
“This has been a very long road,” he said.
In addition to two years of probation, Harris must also pay $60,000 in fines and perform 100 hours of community service.
Mr. DePasquale’s voice cracked as he described her as “the best client I’ve ever had.” He said over eight years, she has never made excuses, has cooperated fully, always made herself available and has never blamed anyone else.
“What she did was wrong,” he said. “What she did after that to make it right — it’s beyond the pale.”
In a statement of her own, Harris apologized to her family and friends.
“I know what I did was wrong,” she said. “I’m very, very sorry to everyone here today.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office had previously agreed not to seek any term of incarceration for Harris.
“The government was very kind to you,” Judge Conti told Harris, saying that if prosecutors had asked for a term of imprisonment, she’d have seriously considered it.
“This was a very serious financial fraud case, and you’re participation was very critical,” she said, noting that Nocito paid the entirety of the restitution owed in the case and Harris “didn’t suffer any financial consequences.”
The judge said the supervision Harris has been under since the case began has been the “lightest form” and does not fulfill the need for adequate punishment.
“This is a very difficult situation,” she said.
In mid-September, Judge Conti sentenced Nocito to one year in federal prison. It was not the leniency his friends and family had begged Judge Conti for, but it was still far lower than the years that prosecutors sought. He will report for his one-year-and-one-day prison sentence Jan. 22. It will be followed by six months of house arrest and another 2½ years of supervised release.
Judge Conti told Harris that she’d taken Nocito’s age and health into account.
“This will be the end,” she told Harris. “Once this is over, you will be free of this criminal justice system.”
The investigation into Nocito’s finances began nearly a decade before his 2018 indictment. The scheme centered around his massive estate, which some estimates peg as worth $20 million, and how exactly it was built and paid for.
That investigation came to light with Harris’ plea of guilty to conspiring with her then-boss to shield some $27 million from the IRS. In pleading guilty, she agreed to cooperate in the case against Nocito. He was listed as a co-conspirator in the charges against Harris.
Investigators said they believed that Nocito and others used his wide network of companies to hide income and paint the home’s construction as business expenses. In addition to Automated Health Systems and Nocito Enterprises, his other firms at the time included Management Financial Services, Northland Properties, Palace Development Co., Donotti Properties and Jonolley Properties.
Dozens of company ledgers collected by investigators contained entries that colored building and personal expenses as legit business costs. The entries were coded as “consulting” or “repairs and maintenance.”
In one example, a $76,000 check for interior design kitchen work was categorized as “consulting” in one company ledger. Another “consulting” entry was actually a $6,100 check for artwork for the mansion’s wine cellar.
First Published: November 30, 2023, 11:46 p.m.
Updated: December 1, 2023, 5:16 p.m.
