TAX NEWS - June 2010

Two charged with cigarette tax evasion

NORFOLK, Va. - Two men have been arrested and charged following an investigation of the trafficking of contraband cigarettes and counterfeit tax stamps, Norfolk police said Thursday.

The investigation by Norfolk police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives yielded the arrests of Carlos Roberto Villar-bustamonte, 61, of Rahway, N.J., and Yoel Klein, 26, of Brooklyn, N.Y.

They were both arrested on Wednesday without incident.

Villar-bustamonte was charged with one count of felony conversion of trust, two counts of misdemeanor failure to keep cigarette records and three counts of misdemeanor failure to exhibit cigaretter records.

Klein was charged with one count of purchasing counterfeit tax stamps, two counts of misdemeanor sale, purchase or possession of untaxed cigarettes, two counts of failure to keep cigarette records and three counts of failure to exhibit cigarette records.