It resembles a case of the fox watching the hen house as a Toms River, New Jersey man was sentenced on March 12, 2013, for using his access to taxpayer accounts in state computers to steal a total of $6,630. The announcement was made by the States Attorney General’s Office
Joseph Stack, 62, of Toms River a former investigator with the New Jersey Division of Taxation was sentenced to three years of probation by Superior Court Judge Mark J. Fleming in Mercer County. He was ordered to pay $6,630 in restitution and will be permanently barred from public employment in New Jersey.
In pleading guilty, Stack admitted that between Aug. 1, 2005, and Aug. 31, 2006, he used his access to computer records of the Division of Taxation to steal money by making three unauthorized transfers of funds from the business accounts of two taxpayers – one deceased and one living – into the taxpayer accounts of his own deceased mother and a living relative. The transfers totaled $6,630, including transfers of $6,184 and $300 into his deceased mother’s account from the business account of the other deceased taxpayer, and a transfer of $146 into the account of Stack’s living relative from the business account of the living victim. Stack prepared state income tax returns on behalf of his deceased mother and the other relative claiming that the amounts transferred represented taxes that they pre-paid.
The investigation originated as a result of an audit performed by the Division of Taxation’s Inheritance Tax Audit Unit. Stack’s employment with the Division of Taxation was terminated in March 2009 as a result of the investigation.
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