Latest news with #homeDetention
RNZ News
4 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Southland woman sentenced to home detention after failing to pay income tax
Debra Lee Monteith was sentenced to 11 months home detention on a single charge of aiding and abetting her company at the Invercargill District Court earlier this week. Photo: RNZ / Ian Telfer A Southland woman whose business received more than $780,000 in Covid support money has been sentenced to home detention after failing to pay income tax. Debra Lee Monteith was charged after her company stopped paying PAYE over a nearly three year period with more than $800,000 unaccounted for. Her company, Lee 19, catered for the Ministry of Education's school lunch programme and at a local meat processing plant. She was registered as an employer in 2019, but in the following year, several employees alerted Inland Revenue about unpaid KiwiSaver deductions. She did not file PAYE returns until 2020 when seven PAYE periods were returned at the same time to a tune of close to $83,000. They were immediately due but Monteith entered an instalment arrangement to pay the debt. It was cancelled due to missed payments in 2022. The company stopped paying PAYE between March 2021 and February 2024 - a month before Lee 19 was placed into liquidation. Monteith said the money was used to keep her company afloat and cover food costs. Inland Revenue said her company was receiving significant taxpayer support while failing to meet its own tax obligations. While she was not taking a salary, she benefited by more than $300,000 between 2020 and 2024. "Her personal expenses were paid out of the company's finances and her groceries were taken from the company's pantry," a spokesperson said. Monteith was sentenced to 11 months home detention on a single charge of aiding and abetting her company at the Invercargill District Court earlier this week. She was made bankrupt in 2013 and had run four other companies since the 1980s. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
CBS News
5 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Maryland suspends home detention agency's license after teen charged with murder in double shooting
Maryland has revoked the operational license of a home detention monitoring company that officials say failed to notify authorities about violations, leading to a lapse in public safety, according to a letter from the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. According to a letter from Secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Carolyn J. Scruggs, the state has ordered Advantage Sentencing Alternative Programs, Inc. (ASAP) to return its license to the Maryland Commission on Correctional Standards, cease monitoring Marylanders, and provide personal information for those under its supervision. The letter says that ASAP has 30 days to submit a written request for a hearing challenging the actions proposed Tuesday. Teen charged in deadly double shooting near Columbia Mall The suspension comes after the arrest of 18-year-old Emmetson Zeah, who was charged with first-degree murder in a shooting that killed two teens, a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old. The shooting happened outside the Columbia Mall on Feb. 22. Zeah was denied bail, and Howard County District Court Judge Allison Sayers said there was clear evidence that he was a danger to the public. Prior to the deadly shooting, Zeah was out on bail for attempted first-degree murder and first-degree assault charges related to a home invasion and attempted stabbing case from November 2024, according to court documents. What is ASAP Inc. accused of? The letter accuses ASAP of failing to notify the state about Zeah's violations in a timely manner, jeopardizing public safety. According to Maryland law, home detention monitoring agencies must notify the Division of Parole and Probation of any violations by offenders, with a $1,000 fine for the first day the agency does not provide notice, and $250 for each subsequent day. ASAP was ordered to pay $1,000 for not alerting officials about Zeah on Feb. 13, and $250 for each of the six days after that, according to the letter. A total of 232 individuals were under supervision with ASAP's ankle monitors, and 883 were on private home detention monitoring at the end of April, a spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services said.
