Jeweler's "Appalling" Greed Cited at IRS Tax Evasion Sentencing

U.S. District Court Judge Garret Brown Jr., sitting in Federal Court in Trenton, New Jersey, cited "appalling" greed when pronouncing sentence upon Licinio "Lee" Neves, the owner of Neves Jewelers, a chain of three jewelry stores located in Woodbridge, Shrewsbury and Aberdeen, NJ on Monday. Neves, in a plea agreement with federal authorities, pleaded guilty this past May to federal tax evasion charges.

The jeweler was sentenced to six-and-a-half months in federal prison for failing to report the cash income from his jewelry stores. Upon his release from prison, he will serve another six-and-a-half months under house arrest. According to sentencing guidelines consistent with such counts, Neves reportedly could have faced up to five years in federal prison.

"He was keeping a double set of books," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Middleton; he allegedly kept one set for cash purchases and one for income he reported to the IRS. Neves admitted, and pleaded guilty, to one count of failing to report cash income from his stores in 2001. The original charges included two additional counts of federal tax evasion for the years 1999 and 2000, which reportedly totaled nearly half-a-million dollars.

Upon his final release, Neves, age 60, is required to complete three years probation as well as 300 hours of community service. He was also ordered to pay a $40,000 fine.

Neves reportedly has also been made to pay the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) a total of $470,234 in back taxes, interest, and penalties for those three tax years cited in the IRS civil tax case against him. "It would appear a half-million dollar crime begets a half-million dollar fine," commented an unidentified former employee of Neves.

After sentencing neither Neves, nor his attorney, were available for comment.