TRENTON
– Attorney General Paula T. Dow and
Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor
announced that two Paterson men were sentenced
to state prison today for conspiring to
steal more than $390,000 by filing 151 fraudulent
state and federal tax returns.
According
to Director Taylor, Wilyn Caceres, 34, of
Paterson, and Lisaldo Ramon Espinal, 26,
of Paterson, were each sentenced to six
years in state prison by Superior Court
Judge Pedro J. Jimenez Jr. in Mercer County.
Each pleaded guilty on Nov. 8, 2010 to charges
of conspiracy and receiving stolen property,
which were contained in a Nov. 9, 2009 state
grand jury indictment.
Deputy
Attorney General Denise Grugan prosecuted
the case for the Division of Criminal Justice
Financial and Computer Crimes Bureau. The
charges stem from a joint investigation
by the New Jersey Division of Taxation’s
Office of Criminal Investigation and the
Division of Criminal Justice.
The
investigation revealed that between April
18 and Aug. 15, 2007, the defendants conspired
to file 117 fraudulent New Jersey Gross
Income Tax returns, which resulted in them
receiving $272,044 in state refund checks
that they laundered through a number of
bank accounts. During the same period, they
also filed 34 fraudulent U.S. Individual
Income Tax returns, which resulted in them
receiving $118,790 in refund checks from
the U.S. Treasury.
“The
prison sentences imposed on these defendants
demonstrate our resolve to aggressively
prosecute anyone who attempts to defraud
the State of New Jersey and its taxpayers
by filing fraudulent tax returns,”
said Attorney General Dow.
“The
Division of Criminal Justice is focusing
enhanced personnel and resources on prosecuting
major financial crimes, including tax fraud,”
said Director Taylor. “We will continue
to work closely with auditors in the Division
of Taxation in these efforts.”
“Those
who seek to manipulate the system by obtaining
fraudulent tax refunds are simply stealing
from their fellow citizens,” said
Michael J. Bryan, Acting Director of the
Division of Taxation. “We will continue
to vigorously pursue any evidence of illegal
activity in this area. Taxpayers have the
right to know that we are doing all that
we can to ensure the integrity of our reporting
and refund systems.”
The
investigation was led by Auditor Lee Roach
of the Division of Taxation’s Office
of Criminal Investigation, Sgt. Robert Walker
of the Division of Criminal Justice and
DAG Grugan.
The
Nov. 9, 2009 indictment also charged Jason
Perez, 26, of Paterson, with participating
in the fraudulent scheme. He pleaded guilty
on Nov. 8, 2010 to receipt of stolen property
and is awaiting sentencing.
The
2009 indictment superseded a Dec. 2, 2008
indictment, which charged Caceres, Espinal
and Perez, as well as a fourth man, Miguel
A. Hernandez, 23, of Paterson. Hernandez
pleaded guilty on July 27, 2009 to receipt
of stolen property. He was sentenced on
Oct. 8, 2009 to 364 days in the Mercer County
Jail and three years of probation.
The
tax refund scheme was uncovered in August
2007, when auditors in the Division of Taxation’s
Office of Criminal Investigation detected
an abnormal pattern involving the refund
checks. Looking at the computer-generated
tax returns related to the refunds, they
noted similarities. They also identified
irregularities in the accompanying W-2 forms,
which proved to be fraudulent. Working with
the Division of Criminal Justice Financial
and Computer Crimes Bureau, they traced
the refund checks to the defendants.
Most
of the state refund checks, which ranged
from $1,500 to $3,676, were cashed by Caceres
at a bank branch office in Passaic where
he worked or were deposited by him into
a series of accounts he opened there using
stolen or fraudulent identification information.
The defendants withdrew money from those
accounts – and an account opened by
Perez at another bank, where refund checks
were also deposited – in the form
of cash, ATM withdrawals, debit charges
and checks. Sizeable transfers were also
made among the various accounts. In investigating
the fraudulent state tax returns, the state
investigators uncovered the U.S. Treasury
checks, which were deposited into the same
bank accounts.
Caceres,
his cousin Espinal, and Perez were involved
in operating a business called Global Movement
LLC on Market Street in Paterson, which
was a tax preparation service, travel agency
and money transmitter. Several of the bank
accounts were in the name of Global Movement.
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