Jack Westlake, the Monouth Couty Board of Taxation president who last week pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion charges, will quit his part-time county post, the Asbury Park Press reports, citing Westlake’s lawyer.
Westlake, whom the Press says is a Red Bank resident, is expected to step down by Friday, his lawyer, John C. Whipple, told the Press. Westlake is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 19 to between 10 and 16 months in prison, under the terms of a plea deal.
The plea was unrelated to Westlake’s role as a gubernatorial appointee to the six-member tax board, which oversees local tax rates and rules on appeals of property tax cases.
Westlake, 76, was ensnared in the same case that resulted in guilty pleas by former state Senate John A. Lynch, Jr. of New Brunswick. Westlake pleaded guilty to failing to report $350,000 in income from Alma Ltd., a consulting business he owned in Tinton Falls. The funds had been channeled to Alma from a Middlesex County real estate deal brokered by Lynch.
Gov. Jon Corzine and two state legislators had called on Westlake to resign from his state-appointed post immediately after his plea, according to the Press.
