Ex-State Tax Official Admits Stealing from Taxpayer Accounts

A onetime investigator for the New Jersey Division of Taxation who calls Toms River home can expect to spend one day short of a year looking at the township from behind the bars of the Ocean County Jail.

Joseph Stack, 61, pleaded guilty to a state charge of theft for taking $6,630 from taxpayer accounts. His sentencing is scheduled for March 12. Prosecutors are asking for 364 days in jail, full restitution and permanent exclusion from public employment.

According to details issued by New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa's office, Stack admitted using his access to Division computer records in 2005 and 2006 to transact three unauthorized fund transfers from business accounts of one dead and one living individual into accounts registered to his dead mother and a living relative.

Stack, say investigators, prepared state income tax returns on behalf of his deceased mother and living relative, claiming the amounts as prepaid taxes. The ruse was uncovered during an review by the Inheritance Tax Audit Unit.

"This former state investigator, who was responsible for detecting and investigating tax fraud, instead took advantage of his access to state computer records to commit fraud himself," said Chiesa. "We have zero tolerance for such breaches of trust by public officials."