TRENTON
- Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal
Justice Director Gregory A. Paw announced
that a Warren County couple and their paving
company were indicted today on charges they
failed to turn over $207,000 in state payroll
taxes on behalf of their employees.
According
to Director Paw, Christopher Nemeth, 40,
of Stewartsville, his live-in girlfriend,
Marisol Garcia, 37, and their company, Nemeth
Enterprises Inc., were indicted by a state
grand jury in a four-count indictment charging
them with second-degree conspiracy, second-degree
misapplication of government property, third-degree
failure to file state quarterly payroll
tax returns and third-degree failure to
pay or turn over payroll taxes.
Nemeth
runs the paving company from his home with
Garcia’s help. The company formerly
did business as Nemeth Asphalt Paving Company,
but the couple incorporated a successor
entity, Nemeth Enterprises Inc., in Pennsylvania
in 2006, with Garcia as sole owner and officer,
in an alleged effort to avoid New Jersey
auditors. The charges stem from a joint
investigation by the Department of Labor
and the Division of Taxation.
The
indictment alleges that from 1999 through
the second quarter of 2007, the defendants
failed to pay the state $207,003.57 in payroll
taxes. The sum includes $62,603.77 collected
from employee wages – $40,038.78 in
gross income taxes and $22,564.99 in taxes
for the state’s unemployment and disability
insurance funds (UI/DI taxes) – which
the defendants were required to hold in
trust until remitted to the state. It also
includes $144,399.80 in required employer
UI/DI taxes. Throughout that period, the
defendants failed to file payroll tax returns,
which must be filed quarterly with the Division
of Taxation, and employer wage reports,
which must be filed annually with the Department
of Labor.
Nemeth
routinely employed 10 to 12 workers who
were laid off during the winter months,
resulting in workers filing unemployment
claims. The Department of Labor paid out
more than $100,000 in unemployment benefits
to Nemeth’s workers during the years
in question despite the fact that the company
made no contributions to the unemployment
insurance fund. Since 2004, the defendants
have repeatedly resisted and evaded the
state’s efforts to compel the company
to file wage reports and payroll tax returns,
remit employee withholding taxes, and pay
UI/DI taxes.
The
case was investigated by Auditor Alison
Gruhler of the Department of Labor - Division
of Employer Accounts and Auditor Kevin Curry
of the Division of Taxation - Office of
Criminal Investigation. Deputy Attorney
General Denise Grugan of the Division of
Criminal Justice - Major Crimes Unit presented
the case to the state grand jury.
Second-degree
crimes carry a maximum sentence of 10 years
in state prison and a criminal fine of $150,000,
while third-degree crimes carry a maximum
sentence of five years in prison and a fine
of up to $15,000.
The
indictment is merely an accusation and the
defendants are presumed innocent until proven
guilty.
The
indictment was handed up to Superior Court
Judge Linda R. Feinberg in Mercer County,
where the defendants will be ordered to
appear at a later date.
>>
View
Indictment
(212k pdf) plug-in
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