South Hackensack Used-Car Dealer From Edgewater Goes To Prison For Pocketing $1.2M In Sales Tax

A South Hackensack used-car dealer from Edgewater was sentenced to a previously-bargained seven years in state prison for hiding $1.2 million in collected sales tax from the state.

Samyon Gilstein
Photo Credit: *MUGSHOT: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR*

Jerry DeMarco

10/08/2018 5:03 p.m.

Samyon Gilstein, 33, who owned Sunrise Motors, at first agreed on the sentence in return for a guilty plea.

His lawyer then tried to keep him out of prison by applying drug court -- claiming a heroin habit fueled his client's crimes -- but a judge rejected the pitch after prosecutors said he plowed the unreported income back into the quickly-growing business.

Gilstein remained held Monday in the Bergen County Jail pending assignment to state prison.

Prosecutors said Gilstein and his wife, Alexandra, the dealership’s manager, collected more than $1.6 million in sales tax but reported that they’d received only $360,000 over four years.

Alexandra was supposed to avoid a prison sentence based on her husband's plea. How the judge's rejection of drug court for him exactly affects her case wasn't immediately clear.

She remained free on Monday.

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