NJ GOP boss gets year in prison for tax crimes — claims he is a rich ‘hoarder’

TOMS RIVER — The former head of one of New Jersey's most powerful Republican county organizations was sentenced Wednesday to a year and a day in prison for federal tax crimes.

George Gilmore, 70, will also have to serve three years of probation once he's freed and must receive mental health treatment for his obsessive spending.

He was convicted last April of failing to pay payroll taxes at his law firm and submitting a false loan application, but was acquitted of filing false tax returns by a jury that also deadlocked on tax evasion charges.

Prosecutors had alleged that Gilmore spent lavishly while failing to pay more than $1 million in taxes between 2013 and 2015.

Gilmore's attorneys have said he will appeal the guilty verdicts. During the trial, they argued that Gilmore reported all his income and didn't deceive the government about his inability to pay his taxes. His lawyers also argued that he had a "hoarding disorder."

Gilmore, who lives in Toms River, stepped down as leader of the Ocean County GOP just days after his trial ended. He had led the organization since 1996 and also had been the longtime chairman of the county's Board of Elections, a post he also resigned.

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