TRENTON
– Attorney General Anne Milgram announced
that the former treasurer for the Pleasant
Hill Cemetery Association in Chester was sentenced
to state prison today for stealing more than
$600,000 in cemetery funds.
According
to Division of Criminal Justice Director Deborah
L. Gramiccioni, Jerry Smith, 68, of Sparta,
was sentenced to seven years in state prison
by Superior Court Judge Salem Vincent Ahto
in Morris County. Smith pleaded guilty on
Oct. 6 to an accusation charging him with
second-degree misapplication of entrusted
property and third-degree failure to pay New
Jersey income taxes.
Under
the plea agreement, Smith executed consent
orders to 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. The judge ordered Smith to continue
to make restitution payments from his fixed
income while in prison.
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 stemmed 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.
Deputy
Attorney General Marysol Rosero prosecuted
the case for the Division of Criminal Justice
Major Crimes Bureau. The investigation was
conducted and coordinated for the Division
of Criminal Justice Major Crimes 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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