Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced that a used car dealer who formerly operated dealerships in Toms River was sentenced to state prison today for stealing $185,000 by collecting state sales tax from customers that he purposely failed to turn over to the State of New Jersey.
Officials say James J. Colapinto, 54, of Freehold, was sentenced to three years in state prison by Superior Court Judge Michael T. Collins in Ocean County. Colapinto was president of Dancola, Inc., which formerly operated two used car dealerships in Toms River. He pleaded guilty on Aug. 24, 2018 to an accusation charging him with second-degree counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of property received and failure to turn over collected tax.
In pleading guilty, Colapinto admitted that he failed to remit approximately $185,000 in sales tax that he collected at his two car dealerships from 2012 through 2015. Colapinto deliberately underreported the sales tax he collected during those years.
Under the plea agreement, he must pay the Division of Taxation $200,000, representing restitution of $185,000 for the sales tax he failed to remit, plus $15,000 in interest and penalties. Colapinto paid $49,000 of the total at sentencing today.
Authorities say Colapinto was also sentenced today by Judge Collins in connection with a separate criminal case brought by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office in which Colapinto pleaded guilty to defrauding a commercial lender that loaned him money for his car dealerships.
As part of a global resolution of the two criminal cases, he pleaded guilty on Aug. 24, 2018 to a charge of second-degree theft in the case filed by the county prosecutor. He was sentenced today to three years in state prison on that charge, with the sentence to run concurrently with the sentence imposed in the tax case.