Stafford man admits taking $1.8M. of clients' tax money
Published: Saturday, November 22, 2008
From Press staff reportsTRENTON - A Stafford Township man pleaded guilty Thursday to taking $1.8 million in taxes that his payroll company was supposed to send to the federal government and using it for himself, U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said.Robert Stockton, 48, admitted that he created The Business Office in 1985 in Stafford Township to provide payroll services for other businesses, Christie said. In 2003, he contracted to sell his company to Online Business Services in San Antonio, Texas, owned by Joshua Schechter, but the sale was never completed. Stockton's company eventually claimed bankruptcy.From 2003 until 2005, the two firms contracted with clients to process their payrolls, pay appropriate federal and state taxes and file the required forms, Christie said.
In December 2003, Stockton, Schechter and others purposely filed false forms with the Internal Revenue Service, paying only a fraction of the tax their clients actually owed, Christie said. They kept the money in the OBS accounts for illegal purposes.In his guilty plea to the charge of theft of government property, Stockton admitted that he kept $1.8 million he withheld from the IRS, and that he knew the money really belonged to the U.S. Treasury, Christie said.Stockton is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 27, and will face a maximum term of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, or twice the amount of his illicit gain, whichever is larger, Christie said. He was released on $50,000 bond pending sentence.Schechter pleaded guilty Oct. 31 to two counts of filing a false federal tax return, and admitted he withheld at least $2.65 million from the government, Christie said. He will be sentenced Feb. 6 and faces a maximum prison term of three years and a fine of $100,000 and the costs of prosecution.
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