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TRENTON
– Attorney General Anne Milgram announced
that the former treasurer for the Pleasant
Hill Cemetery Association in Chester has pleaded
guilty to stealing more than $600,000 in cemetery
funds.
Jerry
Smith, 68, of Sparta, pleaded guilty yesterday
to an accusation charging him with second-degree
misapplication of entrusted property and third-degree
failure to pay New Jersey income taxes before
Superior Court Judge Salem Vincent Ahto in
Morris County, according to Division of Criminal
Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni.
Smith
was treasurer of the Pleasant Hill Cemetery
Association and a member of its board of trustees
for more than 20 years. As treasurer, Smith
had control of Pleasant Hill’s finances
and bookkeeping, including custody and control
of income from plot sales and burials. In
February 2008, the cemetery’s superintendent
found discrepancies in financial reports prepared
by Smith and reported them to the board of
trustees. The charges stem from a joint investigation
by the Division of Criminal Justice and the
Division of Taxation.
In
pleading guilty, Smith admitted that between
January 2000 and February 2008, he misappropriated
$611,590 in cemetery association funds, which
he used for his personal benefit. Smith further
admitted that in filing joint personal income
tax returns with the State of New Jersey for
himself and his wife for the years 2000 through
2008, he failed to report the misappropriated
funds as income, resulting in the couple’s
failure to pay $26,340 in taxes owed.
Under
the plea agreement, the state will recommend
that Smith be sentenced to seven years in
state prison. He must also pay restitution
of $607,590 to the Pleasant Hill Cemetery
Association, representing the amount stolen
less $4,000 he previously repaid, and $42,021
to the Division of Taxation, representing
the taxes owed plus fines and penalties. Judge
Ahto scheduled sentencing for Smith for Nov.
6.
Deputy
Attorney General Marysol Rosero took the guilty
plea for the Division of Criminal Justice
Corruption Bureau. The investigation was conducted
and coordinated for the Division of Criminal
Justice Corruption Bureau by Detective Kimberly
Allen, Auditor Bruce Stuck of the Division
of Taxation, who was sworn as a Special Detective
for the Division of Criminal Justice, and
Deputy Attorney General Rosero.
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