Colts Neck Man Sentenced To 33 Months In Federal Prison For Tax Evasion

A Colts Neck man has been sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for evading income taxes on more than $2 million, authorities said.

Anthony R. Pecoraro, 52, who was a former vice-president at a South Plainfield traffic safety equipment business, had pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William H. Walls to tax evasion.

Walls, sitting in Newark federal court, on Tuesday also ordered Pecoraro to serve three years of supervised release upon the completion of his prison term.

The judge also ordered the defendant to pay $1,241,604.91 in restitution to the IRS, according to a news release from Paul J. Fishman, the U.S. Attorney in Newark.

According to court documents and statements made in court:

In 2008 and 2009, Pecoraro worked at Traffic Safety Service LLC. That company provided traffic safety equipment and other traffic-related services to the state and municipalities as well as private businesses.

As a vice president, he had access to the company’s business account.

When he entered his guilty plea, Pecoraro admitted he wrote checks for unauthorized cash withdrawals for a total of about $2,126,200 between June 2008 and December 2009.

He took that money for personal use, and he failed to report it as taxable income. If he had reported it on his tax returns, he would have owed the government about $733,970.

Fishman credited special agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Newark Division, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Kevin Kelly; and special agents with IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan D. Larsen, with their work on the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lakshmi Srinivasan Herman, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Economic Crimes Unit in Newark, handled the case for the government.