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TRENTON
– Attorney General Anne Milgram and
Criminal Justice Director Gregory A. Paw
announced that three people were indicted
today for allegedly conspiring to steal
$828,000 by filing hundreds of fraudulent
state tax returns.
According
to Director Paw, the following individuals
were indicted by a state grand jury on a
charge of first-degree conspiracy:
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Rosa Victoria Rivera, a.k.a, Vicky
Rocsana Rivera-Peralta, 40, of
Second Avenue, Lyndhurst;
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Rivera’s former boyfriend, John
Arturo Perez Silva, a.k.a., John Perez,
39, of Cleveland Street, Belleville, with
whom she has three children; and
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Rivera’s son, Wilson Armondo
Pinos Rivera, a.k.a. Wilson Pinos,
21, who lived with her in Lyndhurst.
Rosa
Rivera also was charged in the three-count
indictment with first-degree money laundering
and second-degree theft by deception. The
first-degree charges carry a maximum sentence
of 20 years in state prison and a $500,000
criminal fine, while the second-degree charge
carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in
prison and a $150,000 fine. The indictment
resulted from a joint investigation by the
Division of Taxation and the Division of
Criminal Justice.
“These
three individuals allegedly stole more than
$800,000 before investigators put a halt
to one of the biggest tax refund scams in
state history,” said Attorney General
Milgram. “Fortunately, auditors in
the Division of Taxation, working with investigators
in the Division of Criminal Justice, were
able to identify common elements of false
information in hundreds of tax returns,
which they traced to the defendants.”
“This
is an example of our efforts to be vigilant
when it comes to enforcing our tax laws,”
said Cheryl Fulmer, acting assistant director
of the Division of Taxation. “We will
continue to do all that we can to ensure
that taxpayers file appropriately and that
refunds are delivered only to those who
legitimately are entitled to receive them.”
An
audit by the Division of Taxation identified
540 fraudulent tax returns for which refund
checks were issued between Feb. 6, 2004
and July 11, 2006. The returns contained
similar taxpayer information, such as similar
names, common addresses and common employers.
About 400 of the returns were filed electronically
and the remainder were filed with paper.
A
majority of the refund checks were mailed
to mail box drops leased by either Rivera,
Perez or Pinos. Of the 540 refund checks,
276 checks, totaling $828,272 were deposited
in bank accounts maintained by Rivera or
Perez, which the defendants allegedly used
to pay personal expenses. The indictment
alleges that more than $500,000 in checks
were deposited by Rivera into accounts she
maintained. The Division of Taxation was
able to stop payment on the remaining 264
checks, totaling $1,005,030.
The
three defendants were arrested on theft
charges on Dec. 19, 2006. On that date,
investigators from the Division of Criminal
Justice and the New Jersey Division of Taxation,
assisted by officers from the Lyndhurst
Police Department, executed a search warrant
at Rivera’s apartment and seized,
among other things, a computer, stacks of
tax returns, blank W-2s, blank Social Security
cards, numerous driver’s licenses,
passports, bank records and $191,000 in
cash. Several bank accounts of the defendants
containing a smaller amount of money were
seized, and a second search warrant was
executed at a self-storage site leased by
the defendants in Belleville, where additional
records were confiscated.
The
three defendants remain in the Mercer County
Jail, Rivera in lieu of $1 million bail,
and Perez and Pinos in lieu of $750,000
bail each. They will be ordered to appear
for an arraignment on the charges in the
indictment in Superior Court in Mercer County
at a later date.
“The
repetitive nature of this scam proved the
defendants’ undoing, as alleged in
this indictment, providing a trail of false
tax returns that investigators diligently
followed,” said Director Paw.
The
indictment was handed up to Superior Court
Judge Linda R. Feinberg in Mercer County.
The charges in the indictment are merely
accusations and the defendants are presumed
innocent until proven guilty.
>>
View
Indictment (183k pdf)
plug-in
The investigation was led by Auditor Thaedra
Chebra of the Division of Taxation - Office
of Criminal Investigation and State Investigator
Noelle Holl of the Division of Criminal
Justice - Major Financial Crimes Bureau.
The case was presented to the grand jury
by Deputy Attorney General Denise Grugan
of the Division of Criminal Justice - Major
Crimes Bureau.
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