LI Business Owner Pleads Guilty To Tax Evasion Charges: DOJ

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY - A Brentwood business owner pleaded guilty last week on tax evasion charges, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The charges were filed against Jose Cerritos, who owned and operated La Centro Americana Corp. (La Centro), a wholesale food distribution business based in Bay Shore, that sold imported food products for resale to New York metropolitan area customers, the DOJ said.

Cerritos was accused of diverting cash receipts from the business bank accounts, which caused La Centro’s tax returns for 2011 and 2012 to significantly underreport the size of the business - and its profits - to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), according to the DOJ.

He also filed his own individual income tax returns, falsely understating the income he received from La Centro, officials said.

Cerritos also gave the IRS false business records, which purported to show La Centro’s yearly sales for 2011 and 2012, but omitted millions of dollars in gross receipts for each year, the DOJ said.

U.S. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert, who accepted Cerritos’ guilty plea, scheduled sentencing for March 6, 2020.

Cerritos faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison. He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties.