Former North Hempstead Dem Leader Pleads Guilty To Tax Fraud Charges

North Hempstead’s former Democratic Leader Gerard Terry pleaded guilty on Monday to tax fraud charges despite earning hundreds of thousands of dollars from local government contracts, according to Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas.

Terry, 64, of Roslyn Heights, pleaded guilty to fourth-degree criminal tax fraud.

“It was the taxpayers who gave Gerard Terry most of his business, so his failure to pay his own share in taxes is all the more outrageous," Singas said in a press release.

The DA’s office began an investigation into Terry after he issued a public statement in January 2016 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 DA investigation revealed Terry 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 from then until 2015. He was arrested in April 2016.

The DA says Terry also:

• Filed some New York State personal income tax returns for the period of 2000 to 2015, but never remitted the payments due for any of those returns. In addition to involuntary garnishments of his wages and income taxes automatically withheld from his salary, officials say Terry owes more than $100,000 in state income taxes over that period, not including penalties and interest.
• Failed to file a 2015 NYS income tax return or to request an extension on or before April 18, 2016, the deadline for tax year 2015 filing despite issuing a public statement in April 2016.
• Failed to report thousands of dollars of income on the New York State income tax returns which tax preparers filed on his behalf for tax years 2013, 2014, and 2015. The income reported on those returns were therefore understated and false, the DA says. This omission also affects the amount of tax liability actually due.

Following his public statement in 2016, Terry was called to step down as Democratic Party Chairman of the Town of North Hempstead by Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth. The DA says Terry also had several paid positions with various governmental entities:

• 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.

Terry will be sentenced on November 29.

Image via NCDA