A former auto shop business owner who operated two businesses on East Main Street in Riverhead, as well as businesses in Medford and Coram pleaded guilty to first-degree grand larceny charges yesterday in Suffolk County Criminal Court, Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney announced.
Timothy Kjaer, 49, of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, failed to report $16 million in taxable sales while operating eight different businesses out of five locations in Suffolk County from 2011 to 2021, according to a press release issued by the district attorney Wednesday evening. As a result, he failed to pay more than $1.3 million in sales taxes due New York State on those sales, Tierney said.
Kjaer, a former Shoreham resident, operated Automotive Marine & Styling Center Inc., and Real Deal Auto Inc. at 1165 E. Main Street in Riverhead, according to the press release.
Tierney said Kjaer also operated: Not Just Tint, Inc., S&T Autoworks 1, Inc., and S&T Auto Centers, Inc. at 3165 Route 112 in Medford; EZ Credit Auto Sales, Inc. at 2910 Route 112 in Medford;Universal Auto, Inc. at 1831B Route 112 in Medford ; and Universal Auto Sales & Service, Inc. at 8B Middle Country Road in Coram.
Kjaer pocketed the sales tax money he collected from customers for over a decade, instead of remitting it to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, Tierney said.
According to court documents and the defendant’s admissions during his guilty plea allocution, from June 1, 2011 to November 30, 2021, Kjaer failed to submit dozens of sales tax returns and falsified others that substantially underreported the taxable sales of several businesses he owned in Suffolk County, Tierney said.
He was charged with Criminal Tax Fraud in the Second Degree and Grand Larceny in the First Degree and pleaded guilty to the grand larceny charge during his first appearance in criminal court yesterday. The grand larceny plea covers the lesser offense of criminal tax fraud, according to court records.
Kjaer has until September 2028 to make restitution of $3 million to the state or he faces four to 12 years in prison under a plea agreement with prosecutors accepted by the court yesterday, according to the press release.
In 2018, Kjaer announced the opening of a Tint World franchise at the 1165 E. Main St., Riverhead location where he had operated two of the businesses named in the plea. One of them, Real Deal Auto Inc. is authorized to operate under the assumed name of Tint World, according to New York State Department of State business records available online. The assumed name certificate was filed in September 2015. Both the corporate entity, Real Deal Auto Inc., and the assumed name, Tint World, remain active according to state records.
The Tint World business at that location was not named in the plea.
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