Rodney Bush-Rowland, Tax Fraud and Payroll Theft, New Jersey 2020

Camden businessman Rodney Bush-Rowland, 41, has admitted to a multi-year scheme of tax fraud and payroll theft, laundering more than $2.7 million in business revenue through a commercial check casher while deliberately hiding income from the IRS. The sole owner of To & Fro Transportation Inc., a medical transport company based in Camden, Bush-Rowland pleaded guilty by videoconference to making and subscribing a false income tax return, federal prosecutors announced today.

Bush-Rowland admitted that between 2014 and 2015, he cashed over $2.7 million in business checks through a third-party check cashing service, diverting a massive chunk of that income from To & Fro Transportation’s corporate tax filings. He also significantly underreported the company’s earnings on his personal tax returns, triggering a federal tax loss exceeding $25,000. The deception was not a clerical error — it was a calculated move to evade tax obligations.

But the fraud didn’t stop at income tax. Bush-Rowland further admitted to stealing from his own employees by failing to remit more than $147,000 in federal employment taxes owed to the IRS between 2014 and 2016. Despite filing quarterly returns claiming full payment, no such payments were made. Workers believed their withholdings were being sent to the government — instead, the money vanished into the company’s financial void, a betrayal of basic employer responsibility.

The charge of making and subscribing a false tax return carries a maximum penalty of three years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. Bush-Rowland, who appeared before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler, now faces sentencing on December 16, 2020. Federal authorities emphasized that employment tax theft doesn’t just violate the law — it robs employees of their Social Security and Medicare contributions.

The investigation was conducted by IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael Montanez. Agents peeled back layers of financial misrepresentation, tracing the path of cashed checks and unfiled payroll deposits. Their work uncovered a pattern of systemic deception that spanned multiple tax years and multiple forms of tax fraud.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Bender of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden. U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito stated that the office remains committed to holding accountable those who abuse the tax system, especially when workers’ contributions are weaponized for personal gain. For the employees of To & Fro Transportation, the cost of one man’s greed may take years to recover.

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