(USAO, NJ) NEWARK, N.J. – The sole proprietor of a company that purportedly provided internet research and technology consulting services to the Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corporation (NWCDC) today admitted that she failed to report substantial income she received from the NWCDC, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Retha Renee McCoy, 53, of Newark, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Jose Linares in Newark federal court to Count 4 of an information charging her with making and subscribing a false U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, Form 1040, for tax year 2012, which intentionally omitted approximately $56,792 in income that she received from the NWCDC in that year.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From September 2007 to March 2013, McCoy received approximately $355,519 from the NWCDC, which was paid in the form of checks written to McCoy individually, or to a company of which she was the sole proprietor, Precision Technology Services (Precision).

The proceeds that the NWCDC paid to McCoy far exceeded the value of any work performed by her as a consultant for the NWCDC.  In fact, a substantial portion of these payments were fraudulent and orchestrated to fund a stream of concealed payments from McCoy to Linda Watkins Brashear, the Executive Director of the NWCDC at the time...