Councilman Bass wraps up six-year-long legal battle with plea deal

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Since June 2015, Cody Bass and his attorney have been in court fighting a legal battle that started when multiple agencies served a search warrant on both the Tahoe Wellness Cooperative (the name of the Tahoe Wellness Center at the time) and owner Bass's South Lake Tahoe home. Agencies were also at Bass's property in Mendocino to conduct a search at the same time.

The El Dorado County Grand Jury had accused Bass of filing a false income tax return in order to evade personal income tax in 2012 and 2013, and that he failed to file an income tax return in 2014, and failed to pay income tax in 2011. Filing a false return is a felony, failing to pay is a misdemeanor.

Bass said the raids were never about taxes and all about cannabis. He said the investigators had been collecting his trash for months prior to the 2015 raid, and looking for evidence of wrong doing. At the time, it was legal for medical cannabis businesses to operate. Bass said after they couldn't prove any laws broken concerning cannabis they turned to taxes.

That all came to an end Friday, October 1. Bass told Judge Suzanne Kingsbury he waived his right to a jury trial, and plead no contest to a violation of Tax Code 19706. This code states it's a crime to willfully fail to file any return, or to supply any information with intent to evade any tax imposed.

"We resolved the case with no admission of guilt, only because a plea presented the best option to resolve the situation," Bass told South Tahoe Now.

His no contest plea avoided the potential of going to court on all original counts, some of which were felonies.

Bass, who is a first-term South Lake Tahoe city councilperson, will have to pay $136,508.51 in restitution to the Franchise Tax Board plus $5,000 in court fines. Going forward he must file all tax returns on time. Bass and his attorney William Panzer informed Judge Kingsbury his 2020 taxes were not filed on April 15, 2021 but that an extension was filed and he will file by October 15.

He told South Tahoe Now all federal taxes are complete and he's been audited for the same years the FTB agreement is for.

The judge gave Bass a one-year court probation and told him his must obey all laws. Bass was arrested by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) on September 25, 2021 on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs. Since the judge's ruling came after the suspected DUI, it won't fall under her order of following all laws.