Contractor sentenced for bilking seniors on driveway repairs, sales tax evasion

An unlicensed East Rockaway contractor was sentenced to 1 to 3 years in prison Monday for bilking people -- mostly seniors -- whose driveways he promised to repair and for pocketing sales taxes, said a statement from Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice

Robert Cohan, 27, was sentenced by Nassau County Court Judge Tammy Robbins, who also handed down a civil judgment of $1,111,980.08, an amount that includes restitution to Cohan's victims and more than $790,000 in unremitted sales tax and unpaid income tax to the New York State Department of Tax and Finance.

The sentence follows Cohan's guilty plea last January to several counts of grand larceny and tax fraud charges.

"Whether it was elderly homeowners or every taxpayer of New York State, this defendant tried to cheat his victims out of more than a million dollars in a brazen disregard for the law," Rice said in the statement. "Tax crimes often follow other financial crimes, and my office will continue to work with our partners in state government to hold consumer and tax cheats accountable."

Cohan's attorney, Edward Jenks of Mineola, could not be reached for comment.