The owner of a New York tile business has pleaded not guilty to charges he failed to pay more than $1 million in sales tax revenue collected at five Long Island stores. 
Frank Procida was released without bail following his arraignment in Suffolk County Court on Thursday. He was charged with grand larceny and filing false documents.
District Attorney Thomas Spota says investigators found that between 2003 and February 2009, Procida Tile collected $1.1 million in sales tax, but failed to turn it over to state or county officials.
advertisement
Defense attorney Joel R. Weiss said there are 10 corporate entities associated with Procida, and he is investigating what roles any of those shareholders or owners may have played. He also said talks were ongoing “toward settling the matter.”
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
i bought tile from joe procida, and was taken care very professionally. He told me that Brett Cormier was in charge of sales tax, and left his dad holding the bag. I feel sorry for Frank, all his partners took the money and the DA is only going after Mr Procida, seems unfair.Selective prosecution.
Procida Tile’s Brett Cormie was arrested in Florida for steeling $2 million dollars from investers. He than came back to NY and worked for Frank Procida for months. Brett opened another tile store using other people’s money. What a scam.
Hey John Doe,
If a company cant serve the needs of their customers they go down, period. How much business can be generated by satisfied customer referalls? Plenty. I guess your not sending in your freinds any time soon.
Cheating on sales tax? Well his attorney says he has ten corporations. I wonder what a full scale forensic tax audit would uncover.
Mike
What goes around comes around. Mr.Frank refused to pay my bill back in 1980 when he was located in Bay Shore.
What arrogance but our system will let him off with a slap on the wrist.
Why does Procida Tile spend so much on advertising? Because they have to… running a customer focused business was never in there intent. The IRS, Postal Inspectors, Treasury and Suffolk should roast this guy.
Lets see what real justice is rendered.
Kudos to Tom Spota and his office…
I ALLWAYS NEW THIS COMPANY WAS DOING SOMETHING WRONG BUT COULDNT FIGURE IT OUT. I AM SURE THERE WILL BE MORE TO COME
Couldnt have happened to a nicer guy, I would hope consumers will be smart
enough to boy cott any procida stores under new ownership means mr Procida has moved the company into his sons name but is still signing the checks, get the point
We had bought tile and were ripped off had to take them to court
CONSUMER BEWARE