Concrete company owners get 10 months for tax evasion

The two joint owners of two Bay Shore concrete companies have each been sentenced to 10 months in prison for tax evasion, officials say.

The two joint owners -- Alvaro Goncalves and Carlos Correia -- had pleaded guilty in March to evading federal payroll taxes. They operated two concrete companies -- S & S Concrete and S & S Concrete Construction -- involved in the pouring of concrete for home foundations.

Goncalves and Corriera also were each ordered on July 9 to serve 3 years of supervised release, pay fines of $20,000, and pay a total restitution of $98,000 by U.S. District Judge Arthur Spatt in U.S. District Court in Central Islip, officials said.

Goncalves and Correia were initially charged with evading payroll taxes on $2.8 million in cash they paid workers between 2003 and 2007. The workers were nonunion employees, according to officials.

The case was the latest by the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service involving the construction industry on Long Island. Many of the workers who are paid off the books at lower than union wages in the cases are undocumented.

Correia's attorney, William Wexler, would only say that his client was paying back all the money that he owed. Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Kelly declined to comment. Goncalves' attorney could not be reached.