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Miami-Dade County Man Arrested: Florida Auto Sales Tax Scheme

Attorney General Charlie Crist and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Guy Tunnell today announced the arrest of a Miami-Dade County man for continuing a multi-million dollar tax theft scheme in Lee County just 16 months after being arrested on similar charges in Miami-Dade. In the latest scheme, Courtney Longman is charged with collecting more than $43,000 in taxes on motor vehicle sales between August 2003 and May 2005 and then failing to pay the funds to the state. He is being held in the Lee County Jail without bond after turning himself into authorities. Because the 2004 arrest involved a series of violations of state regulations, Longman, 46, was barred from obtaining a dealer’s license to sell vehicles in Florida, and was further restricted from having any ownership of or involvement with any business licensed to sell vehicles in the state.

During an investigation of a used car lot in Ft. Myers, FDLE agents discovered that the owner was a close relative of Longman, creating suspicion that the business was a continuation of Longman’s criminal enterprise under a different corporate name. Further investigation led authorities to discover that all elements of the sales at the car lot, Preowned Motors of Florida, Inc., including down payments and sales taxes collected, were conducted through a company doing business as Stephen’s Enterprises, Inc. Investigators eventually determined that Longman controlled both businesses from an office in Miami. "Citizens tolerate paying taxes in order to fund the essential functions of government," said Crist. "They do not, and should not, tolerate the theft of their tax money to enrich individual bank accounts. That message apparently did not get through to this individual the first time."

Longman, of Miami, was arrested in Miami on similar charges in August 2004. Together with his wife Concepcion Maria Lechado, he operated 13 used car dealerships and rental agencies. In that case the couple allegedly collected more than $2 million in sales taxes but did not send the money to the state Department of Revenue, as required by law. Longman was freed on bail after the 2004 arrest. "When a business owner fails to render state tax that they've collected from sales transactions, they're not only defrauding the State of Florida, they're stealing from all of us. This kind of suspected criminal activity cannot be tolerated," said Tunnell. Longman was charged today with one count of second-degree grand theft and one count of theft of state funds. The previous criminal charges against Longman, including aggravated white collar crime, money laundering and four counts of grand theft, are still pending in Miami-Dade County. The Attorney General's Office of Statewide Prosecution will prosecute both cases.