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For Immediate Release:  
For Further Information:
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October 6, 2006  
Peter Aseltine
609-292-4791
Office of The Attorney General
- Stuart Rabner, Attorney General
Division of Criminal Justice
- Gregory A. Paw, Director
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Hudson County Businessman Sentenced for Failure to Pay Taxes
Ordered to Pay State Over Half Million Dollars in Taxes, Interest and Penalties
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TRENTON – Attorney General Stuart Rabner announced that a Hudson County businessman was ordered today to pay more than $500,000 to the state Division of Taxation as a condition of his sentence for cheating the state out of taxes owed by his gas station and trucking companies.

Superior Court Judge Kevin G. Callahan sentenced Manuel Mier, 50, of Hillside, to five years of probation, conditioned on him serving 364 days in county jail and paying the Division of Taxation $523,385 in unpaid taxes, interest and penalties. The judge said Mier could be ordered to serve the five years in prison if he does not make full payment. Mier brought a $300,000 check to court today and must make regular payments until the amount is paid in full.

Mier’s jail time will run concurrently with a six-month federal sentence imposed last month as a result of his 2002 guilty plea to charges of conspiring to extort money for the protection of illegal gambling and evading bank reporting requirements. Mier was charged in the high-profile federal investigation that sent businessman Rene Abreu and former West New York Police Chief Alexander Oriente to prison.

Mier pleaded guilty on Jan. 29, 2005 to charges of failure to file New Jersey motor fuel tax returns and failure to turn over taxes. Mier admitted that he cheated the state out of $277,000 in tax revenues. The balance of the amount that the judge ordered Mier to pay is interest and penalties. The charges resulted from a joint investigation by the Division of Taxation and the Division of Criminal Justice.

“We will continue to work with the Division of Taxation to ensure that business owners who deliberately cheat the state and its citizens out of tax monies are prosecuted and required to pay their fair share,” said Attorney General Rabner.

“This case shows our commitment to enforcing compliance in all areas of state tax collection,” Division of Taxation Deputy Director Maureen Adams said. “This sentencing and the payment today of $300,000 to the state should serve as a deterrent to people who think they can avoid and evade paying taxes they rightfully owe.”

The joint-agency investigation determined that Mier failed to file returns for and remit $95,909 in motor fuel taxes collected through the sale of gasoline and diesel fuels at his service station in North Bergen, 76 Tonnelle Friendly Service LTD, from September 1997 through February 2000. Additionally, the state’s accusation charged that Mier and his wife had an ownership interest in two waste disposal trucking companies located in North Bergen and Newark – Leticia, Inc. and L&M Services, Inc. – which failed to remit more than $181,199 in state use taxes.

The investigation was coordinated by the Division of Taxation Office of Criminal Investigation and the Division of Criminal Justice - Financial Crimes Bureau. Supervising Deputy Attorney General Terrence Hull of the Division of Criminal Justice - Financial Crimes Bureau prosecuted the case. The investigation was conducted by State Investigator Scott Romanowski of the Division of Criminal Justice - Major Financial Crimes Bureau along with Agent Frank Papp and Assistant Chief Richard Mawer of the Division of Taxation Office of Criminal Investigation.

Citizens with information about unscrupulous tax preparers, or any type of tax fraud, are encouraged to contact the New Jersey Division of Taxation’s “Citizens Against Tax Cheats or CATCH” program. The hotline number is: 609-292-6400. Information can also be mailed to the New Jersey Division of Taxation, 50 Barrack Street, P.O. Box 190, Trenton, NJ 08695-0190, Attention: Citizens Against Tax Cheats.

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