A convicted Akron businessman who was caught trying to run an income tax business while imprisoned was back in court on Tuesday, saying he could not afford the ordered monthly restitution.
Summit County Common Pleas Judge Christine Croce agreed to reduce the amount Ronald Conte pays monthly, but gave him a stern warning that he will repay his victims either through work or going back to prison.
Conte was granted a release in February, placed on strict probation for five years and ordered to tell all future clients of his crimes. He also was ordered to pay $2,500 a month in restitution to 38 area small business owners.
To date, he has paid $392 in restitution, said Summit County Assistant Prosecutor Colleen Sims.
Conte, 58, was sentenced in 2015 after being found guilty of charges that he collected taxes from local businesses for whom he did payroll, but did not forward the money to local, state and federal agencies. He was ordered to pay $558,102 in restitution.
After meeting first in her chambers with Conte’s attorney, Joel Reed, and Sims, Croce agreed to reduce Conte’s monthly payments to $1,500. Croce told Conte that he will need to make changes to his budget, “whether it’s cell phone or cable, whatever, that $1500 will be paid.”
Sims said some of the victims want to make sure Conte “is using every spare amount of time he has to make victims full.” Sims said if the reduced payments are not made, she thinks Conte should stay in an Oriana House program.
“He can stay on a cot and think about paying back the half million dollars,” she said.
Reed, Conte’s lawyer, said his client is working 40 hours and “he’s paying out everything he can… he understands the court order.”
Croce said after tax season is over, if business is slow Conte must get another job. He also must provide information about property in South Carolina.
“There is going to be accountability for Mr. Conte one way or the other — whether it’s making these these payments monthly or going back to jail,” she said.
Before his conviction for the payroll tax problem, Conte also ran an income tax preparation business. Last spring, questions arose about whether Conte was involved — while incarcerated — in his former Income Tax business on Waterloo Road. Conte sold the business and is involved in a separate civil case brought by some of his payroll tax victims.
Conte’s attorneys have insisted that Conte was not involved in the income-tax business, but victim complaints about his possible involvement led to disciplinary actions by the Richland Correctional Institution.
Additionally, Croce said she listened to phone calls between Conte and his wife and believed that they were talking in code. She also warned him, when she released him, that if he was caught breaking any rules, she would put him back in jail for the remainder of his 59-month sentence with no chance for early release.
Conte is allowed to prepare income tax returns, but he is prohibited from practicing or conducting business having to do with payroll taxes while on probation.
Cuyahoga Falls attorney Raymond Powell, who lost $16,700 to Conte, and attended the hearing, said he was pleased with the judge’s decision.
“I would have liked to have seen him pay more, but at the end of the day none of the victims are going to be made whole,” Powell said. “I thought the judge was forceful and fair.”
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her @blinfisherABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/BettyLinFisherABJ and see all her stories at www.ohio.com/betty