Tow truck company’s former owner sentenced to prison

Operator of Westway Towing owed government more than $130,000

The former owner of a South Florida towing company who underreported how much money he earned and owed the government more than $130,000 as a result has been sentenced to prison.

Craig Goldstein, 60, of Boca Raton, the former owner and operator of Westway Towing in Lauderdale Lakes, was sentenced to 15 months in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of tax evasion.

Westway had contracts that allowed the company to tow disabled cars to its lot and store them.

The car owners would have to pay fees in order to get them back, and if they abandoned them, Westway was allowed to sell them for a price that did not exceed those fees, according to federal court records.

Goldstein held an auction every Tuesday in Oakland Park, beginning in 2013, and sold dozens of cars.

For years, Goldstein sold cars at prices that “far exceeded” the lien fees but would tell employees to document that there were no profits from the sales, according to Goldstein’s charging document.

He took the cash and failed to report the income to the Internal Revenue Service.

Between 2013 and 2017, he also didn’t report cash he made from owners paying the lien fees to get their cars back, the charging document said.

Corrupt chiropractors and attorneys would also pay cash kickbacks to Goldstein for his referring victims of car accidents whose cars were towed by his company to them, the court document said.

The referrals allowed for the chiropractors and attorneys to charge fees of up to the $10,000 allotted under Florida’s Personal Injury Protection Program.

Goldstein didn’t report the cash from the referrals to the IRS either.

Six South Florida attorneys and chiropractors were involved in the kickback scheme and were charged with federal crimes in 2017.

In 2014, Goldstein reported his income for the year was less than $100,000 less than what he had truly earned, court records say.

Goldstein reported his income for 2015 as nearly $200,000 less than what he earned and over $170,000 less in 2016.

Goldstein will be on supervised release for three years after serving his sentence.

CARLINE JEAN/SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL Craig Goldstein, pictured in this file photo, is the former owner of Westway Towing in Lauderdale Lakes. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison on three counts of tax evasion.