Rooms Unlimited owner Richard Kogel sentenced in $1.4M tax evasion
An October 2013 Google street view image of the Rooms Unlimited store in Medford. The owner Richard Kogel was sentenced Tuesday to 2 to 6 years in prison for failing to pay New York State more than $1.4 million in sales taxes. Credit: Google
The owner of a Medford furniture store was sentenced Tuesday to 2 to 6 years in prison for failing to pay New York State more than $1.4 million in sales taxes, officials said.
Richard Kogel, 65, pleaded guilty in November to first degree grand larceny for withholding taxes as the owner of K.A.R. Ltd., doing business as Rooms Unlimited, at 2066 Route 112. Kogel, of St. James, also was ordered to pay $1.4 million in restitution to the state.
After sentencing, Kogel was taken to Suffolk County Jail in Riverhead before transfer to a state prison.
A worker at Rooms Unlimited said it was open for business, but declined to comment on the case. Kogel's attorney, Jonathan Manley, said he couldn't comment until he conferred with his client.
Kogel failed to report sales of about $17 million between June 2007 and May 2011, according to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, which investigated the case.
The case was prosecuted by the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.
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'Democrats say this is a misuse of taxpayer funds' Nassau Republicans awarded over $1 million in taxpayer-funded legal contracts to the one-man law firm of Sheharyar Ali, a longtime GOP ally. Ali's father is an adviser to Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman. NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa and Newsday Nassau County politics reporter Bahar Ostadan have the story.
