Forensic accountant sentenced, failed to pay income taxes

A forensic accountant from Nesconset has been ordered to pay more than $200,000 in restitution after failing to pay $114,295 in personal income taxes from 2004 to 2008, state officials said Wednesday.

Richard Edelson, 44, also was sentenced to three years of probation by New York State Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho.

Edelson was convicted of not filing a tax return, a misdemeanor, said state Department of Taxation and Finance Commissioner Thomas Mattox.

"The defendant worked in the financial industry and certainly knew failing to pay income taxes would eventually catch up with him," Mattox said in a statement.

The case was investigated by the tax department's Criminal Investigations Division and prosecuted by the Suffolk County district attorney's office.