Pat L. Christopher, 67, of Hammonton, NJ, was sentenced today to one count of Second-Degree Theft and one count of Third-Degree Tax Evasion.
According to Atalantic County officials, the defendant was a former co-owner of the Christopher Construction Company, LLC.
Officials say, the victims, Dennis and Robert Christopher, were also co-owners of the business and the defendant’s brothers. They still maintain possession and control of Christopher Construction Company, LLC.
An investigation conducted by Atlantic County officials , revealed that Christopher, working in his capacity within the business, stole in excess of 1.1 million dollars that belonged to Christopher Construction and its co-owners.
Defendant reported that certain transactions were business expenses when he doctored the company business account to pay his own personal credit card expenses without the co-owners knowledge.
The defendant participated in this fraudulent practice for approximately ten years.
Also, a review of the defendant’s tax returns showed that he was not reporting this additional compensation on his 1040 tax form for five years.
The defendant was sentenced to five years of probation and no contact with the victims for his fraudulent conduct.
He had to pay restitution to Christopher Construction Company conditioned upon a stock buyback transaction handled civilly between the defendant and the victims.
Victim Dennis Christopher spoke at sentencing and addressed the harm that the defendant caused to his business as well as their family.