on former mayor
FBI spokesman: IRS
sought search warrant
Agents descended
on former mayor’s
home in Marlboro
BY LARRY RAMER
Staff Writer
MARLBORO — IRS and FBI agents who searched the home of former Mayor Matthew Scannapieco last week were acting on a search warrant issued at the request of the Internal Revenue Service, according to FBI spokesman Stephen Kodak.
"FBI agents were assisting the IRS" with the search, Kodak said. "This was an IRS matter."
The IRS is responsible for ensuring that Americans pay their taxes, according to TRAC, a data-gathering and research organization associated with Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y.
"In certain circumstances, the IRS concludes that the taxpayer knowingly violated the tax laws," according to TRAC’s Internet Web site. "In these situations the IRS can recommend to the Justice Department that the taxpayer be charged with a criminal violation. Some IRS criminal referrals are brought under specific tax violations such as the knowing failure to file a return or the knowing filing of a fraudulent return."
During the June 25 search of Scannapieco’s home, federal; agents removed several box loads of documents, according to published reports.
Scannapieco referred questions to his attorney Mitchell Ansell.
Ansell told the News Transcript that the execution of a search warrant does not mean the target of the search will be charged with a crime.
"A search warrant is nothing more than an investigative tool," he said. "Just because a search warrant was issued doesn’t mean someone is getting charged."
Although the search of Scannapieco’s home was conducted in response to an IRS warrant, the FBI is conducting an extensive investigation of the township.
In February, the News Transcript, quoting former Township Attorney John O. Bennett, reported that the FBI was taking documents from the offices of the Marlboro zoning and planning boards, as well as from the township clerk’s office.
Later that month, Councilman Barry Denkensohn said he believed that members of the zoning and planning boards had been questioned by the FBI. Denkensohn said he had spoken with the FBI.
The Township Council has retained the services of a legal firm to review the municipal documents federal agents are requesting.
No Marlboro official or anyone else connected with the township has been charged with a crime.