Three Concrete Companies Plead Guilty to Felony Tax Crimes
Repay $780,642.50 in Stolen Sales Tax
Two Owners Plead Guilty to Criminal Tax Fraud in the Fifth Degree
Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Thursday, December 21, 2017, three concrete companies, Concrete on Demand, Inc.; Copour, Inc.; and CoMix, Inc., each pled guilty to the C Felony of Criminal Tax Fraud in Second Degree for having collected New York State Sales Tax, which they failed to remit to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. As part of the plea agreement placed on the record at the time the corporations pled guilty, each corporation repaid all of the delinquent sales tax. Concrete on Demand, Inc., repaid $335,637.78. Copour, Inc., repaid $318,662.70 and CoMix, Inc., repaid $126,342.02. The total amount paid by all the companies on December 21, 2017, was $780,642.50.
On December 11, 2017, two high managerial agents of the corporations had pled guilty in Town of Monroe Court to tax crimes, in connection with the failure to remit sales tax. David Gross, 45, of Kiryas Joel, a high managerial agent of Concrete on Demand, Inc., and David Friedman, 43, of Kiryas Joel, a high managerial agent of Copour, Inc., and CoMix, Inc., each pled guilty to Criminal Tax Fraud in the Fifth Degree. Both were sentenced to three year conditional discharges, contingent on them paying all the restitution on December 21, 2017.
On March 9, 2017, Orange County District Attorney’s Office criminal investigators, members of the New York State Police, police officers of the Town of Blooming Grove Police Department, and criminal investigators from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance’s Criminal Investigation Division executed search warrants related to the three concrete companies at three locations in Orange County and two locations in Rockland County.
The matter was referred to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, which had commenced the investigation into the companies and the theft of tax monies. In 2014, when David Hoovler became the Orange County District Attorney, the office began taking part in Crimes Against Revenue Program [CARP]. That program provides funding for an assistant district attorney to prosecute thefts of government funds. In 2016 Orange County was fourth highest in New York State in CARP collections.
The cases are being prosecuted by Chief Assistant District Attorney Christopher Borek and Assistant District Attorney Kerry Kolek.
District Attorney Hoovler thanked the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance for their initial investigation and referral of the case, and the New York State Police and Town of Blooming Grove Police Department for aiding in the search warrant executions.
“The theft of taxpayer money is something that simply cannot be tolerated,” said District Attorney Hoovler. “This case is only one example of the close working relationship that my office has developed with the Criminal Investigations Division of the New York State Tax Department and with the New York State Police. Many do not realize that approximately half of the sales tax collected by merchants is returned to the county where the sales occurred. In December alone, my office, in conjunction with the Criminal Division of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, has collected over one million dollars in sales tax which should have been remitted to the state. Certainly no one wants to pay taxes, but those consumers who pay sales tax have a right to know that the money collected is being used to fund police, firefighters and other essential government services, and is not being diverted by unscrupulous merchants.”
A criminal charge is merely an allegation that a defendant has committed a violation of the criminal law, and it is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the State’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.