TRENTON
– Attorney General Anne Milgram announced
that three Jersey City siblings have been
sentenced for aiding their father and his
business partner in stealing $573,383 from
the state by filing fraudulent applications
for 745 Homestead Rebate checks.
Amorito
“Angelo” A. Amante, 34, and
Aloysius M. Amante, 33, were ordered by
Superior Court Judge Darlene Pereksta in
Mercer County on Friday, Sept. 12, to serve
five years in state prison. Amorito Amante
was ordered to pay $80,173 in restitution
while Aloysius Amante was ordered to pay
$40,794 in restitution. The defendants pleaded
guilty on March 3 to theft by deception.
In addition, Aristides Amante, 29, was ordered
to serve five years probation conditioned
on serving 30 days in the sheriff’s
labor program and to pay $78,000 in restitution,
of which he provided $25,000 at the time
of sentencing. The sentence was pursuant
to his Sept. 10, 2007 guilty plea to theft
by deception.
Matilda
Amante Ramos, 57, one of the Amantes’
three co-defendants, pleaded guilty on June
11 to theft by deception and was subsequently
ordered to serve five years probation and
to pay $35,851 in restitution. Charges against
the Amantes’ father, Achilles “Butz”
Amante, 56, and Paul Sarris, 51, and are
still pending. Sarris is currently incarcerated
in Mercer County jail in lieu of $500,000
bail. A bench warrant has been issued for
Butz Amante.
Matilda Amante Ramos ran a travel agency,
while all of the other defendants operated
their own financial service companies offering
tax preparation services. At the guilty
plea hearings, the defendants admitted that
between August 2001 and September 2003,
they allegedly filed 745 false Homestead
Rebate applications with the State of New
Jersey, including multiple applications
for each of 15 residential and commercial
addresses they rented in Jersey City. The
defendants admitted that they filed the
applications using names and Social Security
numbers obtained from tax preparation clients,
without permission of the clients. The defendants
laundered the $573,383 in stolen funds by
depositing the rebate checks in various
commercial bank accounts maintained for
their businesses.
Attorney
General Milgram credited the Jersey City
Police Department with initiating the investigation
after receiving a tip that numerous Homestead
Rebate checks addressed to different names
were sent to a Jersey City address rented
by Sarris and Butz Amante. They referred
the case to the New Jersey Division of Taxation
- Office of Criminal Investigation, which
conducted an audit that identified hundreds
of fraudulent rebate applications linked
to the defendants. The Division of Taxation
brought the Division of Criminal Justice
into the investigation.
Deputy
Attorney General Denise Grugan represented
the Division of Criminal Justice at the
guilty pleas and sentencings. The investigation
was conducted by Auditors Kevin Curry and
Debra Lewaine of the Division of Taxation
- Office of Criminal Investigation.
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