Prosecutor drops tax-evasion charges against Bound Brook restaurant owners
By Jennifer Golson/The Star-Ledger
March 03, 2010, 6:24PM
Matthew J. Dowling/The Star-Ledger
BOUND BROOK -- The Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office today dismissed tax-evasion charges against a
Bound Brook restaurant owner, his half-brother and their business, after the auditor who checked the books
testified that his figures were unreliable.
The revelation came from the state’s main witness in the trial of Rafael Rosario, 48, Rafael Amaro, 57,of Edison
and Café Imperial, who were accused of failing to pay more than $95,000 in sales taxes between 2000 and
2004. The allegations surfaced after Rosario was accused of conspiring with suspended Bound Brook Police
Chief Kenneth Henderson to avoid a raid by the state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control in October 2004.
Testimony started last week before Superior Court Judge Robert Reed in Somerville and continued today with
Rosario’s lawyer Steven Lieberman cross-examining Thomas Bair Jr., an auditor from the state Division of
Taxation’s Office of Criminal Investigation.
Bair was the official who reviewed the books in November 2004. After less than 20 minutes on the stand, "he
just recognized his calculations were wrong, his numbers were wrong, his conclusions were wrong and he made
a mistake," Lieberman said after court.
That led to a conference between the judge and the lawyers: First Assistant Prosecutor A. Peter DeMarco Jr.
and Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Murphy, and defense counsel Lieberman, and James Wronko and Robert
Wilson, representing Café Imperial and Amaro respectively. After a break, DeMarco told the court he could not
continue with the case and dismissed the counts, including failure to surrender taxes.
"Our obligation isn’t to seek a conviction, it’s to see that justice is served," DeMarco recounted. "It would have
been improper in my mind, as a sworn law enforcement official, to proceed."
The defense lawyers had forged a unified front, insisting there was no crime, Wronko said.
"We are very grateful that Mr. DeMarco, exercising his discretion, upheld the finest tradition of the justice
system, the obligation of prosecutors to seek justice," said Wronko, who is a former prosecutor.
Wilson said he was not surprised the prosecutor’s office did the right thing, "because that’s the integrity that I
know Mr. DeMarco has. It was surprising in the way that it happened. It’s very rare that you have a prosecutor
dismiss a case in the middle of a prosecutor’s witness testimony."
"Our case was based on this auditor’s analysis of the figures," DeMarco said after court. "We expected that his
analysis of those numbers was accurate and reliable."
The Division of Taxation is part of the state Department of the Treasury. Officials at that office declined
comment today.Rosario and the corporation still face a second trial for official misconduct. Henderson is
accused of official misconduct and other offenses, and will go to trial after the others.
By Jennifer Golson/The Star-Ledger
March 03, 2010, 6:24PM
Matthew J. Dowling/The Star-Ledger
BOUND BROOK -- The Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office today dismissed tax-evasion charges against a
Bound Brook restaurant owner, his half-brother and their business, after the auditor who checked the books
testified that his figures were unreliable.
The revelation came from the state’s main witness in the trial of Rafael Rosario, 48, Rafael Amaro, 57,of Edison
and Café Imperial, who were accused of failing to pay more than $95,000 in sales taxes between 2000 and
2004. The allegations surfaced after Rosario was accused of conspiring with suspended Bound Brook Police
Chief Kenneth Henderson to avoid a raid by the state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control in October 2004.
Testimony started last week before Superior Court Judge Robert Reed in Somerville and continued today with
Rosario’s lawyer Steven Lieberman cross-examining Thomas Bair Jr., an auditor from the state Division of
Taxation’s Office of Criminal Investigation.
Bair was the official who reviewed the books in November 2004. After less than 20 minutes on the stand, "he
just recognized his calculations were wrong, his numbers were wrong, his conclusions were wrong and he made
a mistake," Lieberman said after court.
That led to a conference between the judge and the lawyers: First Assistant Prosecutor A. Peter DeMarco Jr.
and Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Murphy, and defense counsel Lieberman, and James Wronko and Robert
Wilson, representing Café Imperial and Amaro respectively. After a break, DeMarco told the court he could not
continue with the case and dismissed the counts, including failure to surrender taxes.
"Our obligation isn’t to seek a conviction, it’s to see that justice is served," DeMarco recounted. "It would have
been improper in my mind, as a sworn law enforcement official, to proceed."
The defense lawyers had forged a unified front, insisting there was no crime, Wronko said.
"We are very grateful that Mr. DeMarco, exercising his discretion, upheld the finest tradition of the justice
system, the obligation of prosecutors to seek justice," said Wronko, who is a former prosecutor.
Wilson said he was not surprised the prosecutor’s office did the right thing, "because that’s the integrity that I
know Mr. DeMarco has. It was surprising in the way that it happened. It’s very rare that you have a prosecutor
dismiss a case in the middle of a prosecutor’s witness testimony."
"Our case was based on this auditor’s analysis of the figures," DeMarco said after court. "We expected that his
analysis of those numbers was accurate and reliable."
The Division of Taxation is part of the state Department of the Treasury. Officials at that office declined
comment today.Rosario and the corporation still face a second trial for official misconduct. Henderson is
accused of official misconduct and other offenses, and will go to trial after the others.
