An auction owner in Pennsylvania and his general manager are in some hot water after federal prosecutors charged the pair with committing fraud against charities.

William Stake, owner of Gettysburg Auto Exchange, and auction GM David Burk face charges of “operating and conspiring to operate a scheme to defraud charities who used the Gettysburg Auto Exchange to sell vehicles donated by private individuals for charitable causes,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania said in a statement Wednesday.

These charges follow an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Harrisburg office.

Stake — with Burk’s help — is accused of having misled hundreds of thousands of dollars from the charities, allegedly by crafting fake bills of sales that supposedly allowed Stake to pocket “a significant portion” of proceeds that would have otherwise gone to charity.

Prosecutors said that the auction had partnerships with non-profits whereby the Gettysburg Auto Exchange would collect vehicle donations from the public, and then the charities would set up the sales with used-car dealers and auctions. After the cars were sold, the proceeds would be sent back to the charities to be doled out to various causes, feds explained.

Under the deal, Gettysburg Auto Exchange would collect, transport and sell the donated vehicles, then send the charities the funds raised. As part of the agreement, the auction was to deduct the transportation and selling fees from those proceeds.

The bill of sale is where the alleged fraud came in, prosecutors contend.

“Stake, assisted by Burk, allegedly engaged in a scheme to defraud both the charities and the donors of the used vehicles by selling the vehicles and keeping a significant portion of the proceeds of the sale for himself,” the U.S. Attorney’s office contends.

“Stake allegedly created fictitious bills of sale indicating that the vehicles had been sold at less than the actual price. These fictitious bills of sale were then sent to the victim charities as proof that they had received the full sale price of the donated vehicle,” officials continued. “As a result, the charities were allegedly defrauded of hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Serving as prosecutor for this case is Pennsylvania State Police Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Zubrod.

Should prosecutors convict Stake, maximum prison time could be 20 years with a $250,000 fine. The sentence could also include a maximum term of supervised release of up to three years. As for Burk, he could see a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, along with a possible maximum term of supervised release of up to three years.