Sicklerville Businesswoman Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison

A Gloucester Township resident and owner of a New Jersey-based temporary-employment agency was sentened to 18 months in federal prison Friday, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Vanna Kem, 42, in April entered a guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson in Trenton federal court to an indictment charging her with one count of tax evasion.

After her prison term is completed, Kem will be on supervised release for three years under the sentence handed down by Thompson in Trenton federal court on Friday.

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

Despite being the true owner of Tri State Labor Services Inc., Kem incorporated the business and maintained the corporate bank account in the name of a nominee. From the first quarter of 2006 through the last quarter of 2008, Kem paid Tri State employees more than $1 million in cash wages without withholding employment taxes. She also failed to file IRS 941 forms—Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Returns—in which she was required to report the wages paid to her employees.

As part of her guilty plea, Kem, who lives in the Sicklerville section of Gloucester Township, agreed to pay $163,837.47 in restitution to the IRS.

The tax evasion charge carried a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.