RALEIGH -- A Union County man pleaded guilty to felony tax charges Monday in Wake County Superior Court.

Robert W. Nesbit, Jr., 47, of 4110 Broom Acres Drive in Monroe entered guilty pleas on May 16, 2005 to two counts of aiding and abetting Consolidated Steel Services, LLC and Consolidated Crane & Rigging, Inc. to embezzle North Carolina income taxes. Nesbit was the responsible person of Consolidated Steel Services and Consolidated Crane & Rigging, which were located at 101 Clanton Road in Charlotte. The offenses occurred from Jan. 1, 2000 through Dec. 31, 2003.

The state’s evidence showed that the two companies withheld $141,928.96 in state income taxes from employees’ wages and did not remit the funds to the Department of Revenue. The evidence further revealed that Nesbit aided and abetted the corporations to misapply the funds by using them in the operation of the businesses and to pay his and his wife’s salaries.

Superior Court Judge James C. Spencer, Jr. sentenced Nesbit to a 42-month minimum, 52-month maximum prison term. The sentence was suspended and he was placed on supervised probation for 36 months. Nesbit was ordered to spend the next 52 weekends in the Wake County jail as a special condition of his probation. He was also ordered to perform 50 hours of community service within the first 12 months of probation. Nesbit paid $141,928.96 to the Department of Revenue before entering his guilty plea and was ordered to pay an additional $39,856.14 in restitution during probation.

The charges against Nesbit resulted from a referral from the Charlotte Revenue Office and an investigation by the Department of Revenue’s Criminal Investigations Division.

Last modified on: 10/31/07 03:43:56 PM .