The former Democratic leader for the Town of North Hempstead was arrested on federal tax evasion charges Tuesday, adding to the long list of counts he is facing in Nassau County court.
Gerard Terry, an attorney who held numerous local government titles in addition to his former party leadership role, was charged with tax evasion and obstructing the administration of internal revenue laws.
“The defendant knowingly and willfully refused to pay his federal income taxes,” said Robert Capers, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “That he did so while earning hundreds of thousands of dollars from government and civic positions only makes his conduct more offensive.”
Prosecutors said the 62-year-old Roslyn man failed to pay more than $1.4 million in federal taxes since 2000 despite earning more than $250,000 annually working for the town, the Nassau County Board of Elections, the Long Beach Housing Authority, the North Hempstead Housing Authority, the Freeport Community Development Agency, the Roosevelt Public Library, the Village of Port Washington and the Village of Manorhaven.
After the IRS pursued him, he filed paperwork that included false information, but still failed to file returns for 2009 and 2010 and later provided false, misleading and incomplete information to obstruct internal revenue laws, authorities said. He then tried to evade IRS collections by cashing more than a half million dollars worth of checks instead of depositing them in bank accounts where they could be seized, according to investigators. He instead only deposited enough to cover his bills, making it impossible for the IRS to collect.
The federal charges are in addition to an indictment he is facing in Nassau County court. Terry pleaded not guilty last year to criminal tax fraud for failing to file New York State taxes for years and offering a false instrument for filing. He was released without bail in that case.
