Route 9 Used Car Dealer Gets Jail In $156K Sales Tax Fraud

A Toms River used car dealer has been sentenced to three years in prison for failure to turn over more than $156,000 in sales tax collected from customers to the state, Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman said Friday.

Gennaro Dicecilia, 58, who owned Automotion LLC on Route 9 in Toms River, pleaded guilty on July 14 to a second-degree charge of failure to turn over collected New Jersey sales tax. He must pay restitution to the New Jersey Division of Taxation of $220,797, representing the $156,564 in sales tax he failed to remit, plus penalty and interest, in addition to the jail sentence from Superior Court Judge Timothy P. Lydon in Mercer County.

Dicecilia was charged in a Nov. 14, 2013 indictment stemming from an investigation by the Division of Taxation Office of Criminal Investigations and the Division of Criminal Justice.

In November 2011, the Division of Taxation was conducting a routine canvas of used car dealerships in Ocean County to identify dealerships that were not properly registered or licensed. During the canvas, it was determined that Dicecilia had failed to file any sales tax returns or remit any sales tax for Automotion since the dealership opened in 2007. The Division of Taxation demanded payment of the dealership’s outstanding sales tax, and Dicecilia subsequently filed sales tax returns.

However, an audit by the Division of Taxation revealed that he deliberately hid information about the number of cars sold and the sales tax that he collected. Further investigation based on vehicle title transfer records kept by the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission determined that Dicecilia had collected $205,157 in sales tax, while he remitted only $48,593 during the civil audit.

“Even after the Division of Taxation confronted him about his failure to turn over sales tax, Dicecilia tried to deceive the state about how much he had collected,” said Acting Attorney General Hoffman. “We won’t tolerate dishonest merchants who defraud the State of New Jersey and its honest taxpayers.”

Auditor Kyle Mullane of the Division of Taxation Office of Criminal Investigations and Detective Kimberly Allen of the Division of Criminal Justice conducted the investigation. Deputy Attorney General Denise Grugan presented the case to the state grand jury for the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau. Deputy Attorney General Mark Kurzawa, Deputy Bureau Chief, prosecuted the case with Deputy Attorney General Gallagher.