Former North Hempstead Dem Leader Faces More Tax Fraud Charges

North Hempstead’s former Democratic Leader Gerard Terry was arrested on more tax fraud charges right after he was arraigned Wednesday on grand jury charges, Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said.

Terry, 62, of Roslyn Heights, was arraigned on two counts of third-degree criminal tax fraud for failing to file and pay New York State personal income taxes for tax years 2010 and 2015 and was released on his own recognizance.

Following the arraignment, he was then arrested and charged with three counts of third-degree criminal tax fraud for omitting earned income and three counts of offering a false instrument for filing, the DA says.

The new charges stem from an investigation that allegedly revealed Terry failed to report thousands of dollars of earned income on his New York State income tax returns for years 2013, 2014 and 2015, the DA says. The income reported on those returns is understated and false, the DA says, which reportedly affects the amount of tax liability actually due.

Terry was arraigned again and was released on his own recognizance.

“[Terry] has made hundreds of thousands of dollars from taxpayer-funded government contracts, yet despite his very public commitment to file and pay required taxes, he has allegedly continued to shirk his state tax obligations,” Singas said in a press release. “Income taxes fund critical government programs and services for which we must all pay our fair share.”

The DA’s office began an investigation on Terry after he issued a public statement in January explaining that he “owes a lot of back taxes” to the IRS and admitted to “having a problem.”

In the statement, Terry said he failed to pay “some one million plus dollars, which has accumulated over more than a decade” to the IRS and that he “need[s] to tackle [his] New York state arrears.” The statement can be found here.

Terry was arrested in April following the investigation.

The DA investigation revealed Terry has earned an average annual income of $200,000 to $300,000 since 2000 and has regularly failed to voluntarily pay New York State income taxes since then.

The DA said that despite his public statement and arrest, Terry failed to file a 2015 NYS income tax return or request an extension before the deadline.

Terry allegedly began filing some NYS personal income tax returns from the years 2000-2015 after he became aware of federal and state investigations, but he never remitted the payments due for any of those returns.

The amount of state income tax that Terry owed, without penalties and interest, is more than $100,000, which is in addition to involuntary garnishments of his wages and income taxes automatically withheld from his Nassau County Board of Elections salary, according to the DA.

The DA says Terry had several paid positions with various governmental entities:

• He served as the Democratic Party Chairman of the Town of North Hempstead until January.
• He held positions with the Nassau County Board of Elections since 1998 with his most recent position being Assistant Counsel.
• He entered into contracts with the Town of North Hempstead since 2004 to serve as counsel in various capacities, including Town Attorney and counsel to the Board of Zoning Appeals and the Housing Authority.
• He entered agreements appointing him as legal counsel for the Roosevelt Public Library (in 2005), the Freeport Community Development Agency (in 2011) and the Long Beach Housing Authority (for two years starting in 2014).
• He served as the attorney for the Village of Manorhaven until 2012.

Terry has either been removed of stepped down from all the aforementioned positions, the DA says.

Terry faces up to 2 ⅓ to 7 years in prison if convicted of the top charge. He is due back in court for both cases on Sept. 27.