Cash scheme: Ex-chief Alan Laird's security business partner admits tax fraud in plea deal
A business partner with former Irondequoit Police Chief Alan Laird said in a plea agreement Wednesday that he and his partner defrauded the Internal Revenue Service out of hundreds of thousands of dollars through a security company they owned.
Steven Rosenbaum, who co-owned the security company Swoop 1 Inc. with Laird, pleaded guilty to tax fraud in federal court Wednesday. In the plea, he identified the business co-owner as a co-conspirator; the partner is identified as "A.L." in the plea.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Resnick declined to identify "A.L." or to say whether there are now plea negotiations with the individual.
Laird retired as Irondequoit's police chief in November, at a time when the investigation into the allegations of tax fraud was beginning to gain steam. The Democrat and Chronicle could not immediately reach Laird or an attorney for him.
The crimes, according to Rosenbaum's plea, date back to 2016. The security firm has employed hundreds of security officials through the years, many of them retired and current law enforcement, and according to the plea a number of the guards were paid in cash. The security officials could have chosen to pay taxes on that income; the plea does not address that issue.
Resnick said after the plea that vendor checks to Swoop made up for much of the unreported income for the company. He said employees were sometimes paid in cash.
Resnick declined to say whether the IRS is investigating former and current employees of Swoop for possible tax crimes. Swoop is a major security firm in the region, providing services to school districts, religious organizations, and event and concert venues, such as the Constellation Brands Performing Arts Center. The company remains in business.
Under federal sentencing guidelines, which are advisory, Rosenbaum faces a sentence of 24 to 30 months and restitution which totals nearly $560,000 before interest and penalties.
In his plea, Rosenbaum, 57, said that:
From 2016 through 2021 he and his partner failed to report on corporate income tax forms gross receipts that totaled nearly $260,000.
During those same years the two took checks from clients and cashed them at a check cashing business and did not report the amount on taxes. Those gross company receipts totaled more than $5.3 million.
He and his partner used the cash from the cash checking business partly to pay employees. They paid about $2.7 million to workers and split about $2.5 million between themselves.
The tax restitution was the amount determined by the IRS to be Rosenbaum's unreported taxes.
Rosenbaum's lawyer, Peter Pullano, said Rosenbaum acknowledges his crimes.
"He shouldn't have done this and he said that," Pullano said.
He said he and Rosenbaum began discussing a possible plea with prosecutors in the early stages of the investigation.
Laird, who spent more than two decades with the Irondequoit Police Department, was promoted to chief in 2020. He retired in November 2022. He was a police officer for 27 years, with 22 of those years as an Irondequoit police officer.
State records show that Swoop 1 was fined by the state in 2019 for employing eight security guards who were unregistered or could not be security guards under state regulations. Also, seven guards were not "timely" or "properly" registered with the state.
The company acknowledged the lapses and the company paid $15,000 to the state.
— Gary Craig is a veteran reporter with the Democrat and Chronicle, covering courts and crime and more. You can reach Craig at gcraig@rocheste.gannett.com. He is the author of two books, including "Seven Million: A Cop, a Priest, a Soldier for the IRA, and the Still-Unsolved Rochester Brink's Heist."
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Alan Laird's partner in Rochester security: Checks cashed for millions
