A Great Neck business owner who in January pleaded guilty to not paying state taxes for three years has made payment in full for what he owed, according to Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice.
Joseph Caraccia and two companies he owned – Auto Bodyworks of 275 East Shore Road and Auto Body Works II of 300 East Shore Road – paid $167,500 to the state Department of Taxation and Finance after receiving a conditional discharge by Nassau County Supreme Court Judge Martin Massell.
Caraccia, a 65-year-old a resident of Queens, had paid another $167,500 in January after he pleaded guilty to petit larceny and his two companies pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny.
“By failing to pay his fair share of taxes, this defendant withheld money that could have been used to pay our first responders, to repair roadways, and to maintain our parks,” Rice said. “With this sentence, the money he owes taxpayers will finally be going to fund the vital services that all of us depend upon.”
Marvin Hirsch, Caraccia’s attorney, said the failure to pay taxes by Caraccia and his two companies arose from “some bookkeeping problems.”
“Mr. Caraccia has been a long-standing businessman in Nassau County and Queens,” Hirsch said. “He’s made full restitution.”
The district attorney’s office learned about Caraccia’s tax evasion from a tip to their office.
The Nassau Criminal Investigations Division of the state Department of Taxation and Finance investigated the tip and found differences between taxes that were paid by insurance carriers to the automobile repair shops and the amount of taxes the two shops paid the state, Rice said.
Investigators searched Caraccia’s offices and obtained financial information regarding the businesses that led to Caraccia’s arrest on Oct. 24, 2012. Investigators determined Caraccia failed to pay $335,000 between the years of 2009 and 2012.
Caraccia’s autoshops were charged with second-degree grand larceny on Dec. 18, 2013.
Thomas Mattox, commissioner of the state Department of Taxation and finance, praised Rice for her work in prosecuting Caraccia.
“I commend District Attorney Rice and her team for prosecuting the defendants,” Mattox said. “Thanks to the effort, several hundred thousand dollars in sales tax debt will be paid and eventually distributed to local governments and New York State for a wide array of public services.”
Reach reporter Anthony O’Reilly by e-mail at aoreilly@theislandnow.com, by phone at 516.307.1045 x203 and on Twitter @ ORiled_Up. Also follow us on Twitter @theislandnow and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
