N.H. Trucker Caught Paying ‘Under the Table’ to Avoid Comp Costs

A trucking company owner in Hudson, N.H. has pleaded guilty to federal charges that he conspired to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and Transportation Department and his workers compensation insurance carriers.

The U.S. Attorney’s office said Robert Stalker, owner of Robert’s Dismantling and Recycling Corp., admitted that he paid his workers in cash under the table for all overtime work and never reported the payments to the IRS.

Stalker admitted he had businesses that owed his company money pay him by checks made payable in false names. He then cashed more than $1.3 million worth of those false checks at a Massachusetts check-cashing company. The cash never showed up on the company’s books.

The U.S. Attorney’s office also said Stalker wrote more than $750,000 worth of checks from the company bank account, made payable to companies real and fictitious and the company’s books showed expenses it never incurred.

Stalker is to be sentenced on March 16.