TRENTON
– Attorney General Anne Milgram and
Criminal Justice Director Gregory A. Paw
announced that a Bergen County woman and
her former boyfriend were sentenced to prison
today for stealing $828,000 by filing hundreds
of fraudulent state tax returns.
According
to Director Paw, Rosa Victoria Rivera, a.k.a,
Vicky Rocsana Rivera-Peralta, 40, of Lyndhurst,
was sentenced to 10 years in state prison
by Superior Court Judge Thomas P. Kelly
in Mercer County. The judge sentenced Rivera’s
former boyfriend, John Arturo Perez Silva,
a.k.a., John Perez, 39, of Belleville, to
three years in state prison.
On
Dec. 7, Rivera pleaded guilty to first-degree
conspiracy to commit money laundering and
theft by deception. Perez Silva pleaded
guilty at that time to second-degree conspiracy.
They agreed to pay full restitution to the
state.
Deputy
Attorney General Denise Grugan of the Division
of Criminal Justice - Major Crimes Bureau
prosecuted the case and represented the
state at today’s hearing. 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.
Rivera
and Perez Silva admitted that between Feb.
6, 2004 and July 11, 2006, they, along with
Rivera’s son, Wilson Armando Piños
Rivera, a.k.a. Wilson Piños, 22,
filed 540 fraudulent tax returns. An audit
by the New Jersey Division of Taxation determined
that 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 remaining returns were filed with
paper.
A
majority of the refund checks were mailed
to mail box drops leased by either Rivera
or her co-defendants. More than 275 checks,
totaling $828,272, were deposited in bank
accounts maintained by Rivera or Perez Silva,
which the defendants allegedly used to pay
personal expenses. Rivera admitted that
more than $500,000 in checks was deposited
into accounts she maintained. The Division
of Taxation was able to stop payment on
the remaining 264 checks, totaling $1,005,030.
On
Dec. 19, 2006, investigators from the Division
of Criminal Justice and the 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 $139,000 were seized as well
as seven vehicles owned by Rivera.
The
Division of Criminal Justice obtained a
state grand jury indictment on July 10,
2007, charging the three defendants. A charge
of first-degree conspiracy is pending against
Wilson Armando Piños Rivera, who
is being held on $750,000 bail in the Mercer
County Jail. The indictment is merely an
accusation and the defendant is presumed
innocent until proven guilty.
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