Ex-Irondequoit Police Chief Alan Laird admits to defrauding IRS

Former Irondequoit Police Chief Alan Laird admitted in federal court Tuesday that he and a business partner defrauded the Internal Revenue Service out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by personally cashing checks from vendors.

The two, Laird and Steven Rosenbaum, illegally failed to report the income to the IRS.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, which are recommendations for a judge, Laird, 48, faces 24 to 30 months in prison. Laird will remain free until his sentencing, scheduled for Dec. 20.

Laird and Steven Rosenbaum have co-owned the security company Swoop 1 Inc. Rosenbaum earlier pleaded guilty to tax-related crimes and said he and his partner were conspirators in the fraud. While Laird was not fully identified in Rosenbaum's plea, the plea did give the partner's initials as "A.L."

The security firm has employed hundreds of security officials through the years, many of them retired and current law enforcement, and according to the pleas, a number of the guards were paid in cash.

From 2016 through 2021, the business partners 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.

Laird and Rosenbaum 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.

Laird has been ordered to pay $632,722 in restitution, a combination of personal income and payroll tax fraud. His lawyer James Nobles said that he already has $204,673 — the payroll tax amount — from Laird and expects Laird to pay the entirety by sentencing.

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.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Resnick said that the IRS learned of the allegations of tax crimes and launched an investigation. He declined to say whether others could face criminal or civil penalties.

With tax fraud, taxpayers are the victims, Resnick said. "If you're not paying your taxes, everyone else suffers," he said after the plea.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Alan Laird, ex-Irondequoit NY police chief, admits to defrauding IRS