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Mark Pieloch, owner of Pharma Chemie, says it is the “Gestapo-like” treatment he has received from the Nebraska State Patrol that has sparked his decision to desire to move his business out of state.
In a letter to business owners, dated Sept. 22, Pieloch outlined various reasons why he no longer seeks to do business within the state of Nebraska.
After a year of silence from Pieloch following a search by the Nebraska State Patrol of his Nebraska properties, Pieloch said, “It looks like the Nebraska State Patrol has a touch of Nazi-Germany within it!”
On Sept. 1, 2010, NSP officers served search warrants at several locations owned by Pieloch in Syracuse and Lincoln following a six-month-long investigation by the NSP, Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles Criminal Fraud Unit and the Nebraska Department of Revenue.
The investigation involved allegations of failure to register or pay sales tax in Nebraska on a 2009 Chevrolet Avalanche. An arrest warrant was also issued for Pieloch for willful avoidance of sales tax.
Pieloch said that after he was charged, he paid nearly $900,000 in restitution for taxes on his collection of cars, which totals around 150. He said that he paid Nebraska sales tax on several cars that were not purchased in Nebraska and have never been in the state.
In his letter, Pieloch lists items seized by the State Patrol that, he claims, have no bearing on the case against him. He also said that thousands of dollars in cash were seized by officers and not listed on the seizure sheet.
“If these funds are not present among the seized items by the NSP,” said Pieloch, “Then I, as an American citizen, would like felony theft charges to be filed against the Nebraska State Patrol.”
Pieloch also said in his letter, “For an individual who has already donated more than $500,000 to Nebraska non-profit organizations in 2011 and who paid, in 2010, more than $7,000,000 in a variety of taxes ... (the State of Nebraska's) perceived sales tax owed issue is shocking.”
He said that other states that have had a tax, a fee or a form due by Pieloch have contacted him by fax, mail, e-mail or phone.
“I guess the State of Nebraska is behind the rest of the country on these modes of communication,” he said.
In an application for the Melbourne Economic Enhancement District Program in Melbourne, Fla., which would provide $2,500 to Pharma Chemie for each new job created, Pieloch stated, “Pharma Chemie, Inc., is contemplating a 35,000--square-foot expansion in the City of Melbourne for the manufacture of pet supplements.” Melbourne is located about 26 miles south of Cape Canaveral, Fla.
In his letter, Pieloch said, “After reading what has been happening in Nebraska the past year to my family and me, no one needs to ask why I have started to explore options to move all or part of Pharma Chemie, with its roughly 40 employees, to another state. Would you continue to do business in Nebraska if you were me?”
Pieloch is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Lancaster County Court on Oct. 24 on a charge of evasion of sales tax.
Mark Pieloch, owner of Pharma Chemie, says it is the “Gestapo-like” treatment he has received from the Nebraska State Patrol that has sparked his decision to desire to move his business out of state.
In a letter to business owners, dated Sept. 22, Pieloch outlined various reasons why he no longer seeks to do business within the state of Nebraska.
After a year of silence from Pieloch following a search by the Nebraska State Patrol of his Nebraska properties, Pieloch said, “It looks like the Nebraska State Patrol has a touch of Nazi-Germany within it!”
On Sept. 1, 2010, NSP officers served search warrants at several locations owned by Pieloch in Syracuse and Lincoln following a six-month-long investigation by the NSP, Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles Criminal Fraud Unit and the Nebraska Department of Revenue.
The investigation involved allegations of failure to register or pay sales tax in Nebraska on a 2009 Chevrolet Avalanche. An arrest warrant was also issued for Pieloch for willful avoidance of sales tax.
Pieloch said that after he was charged, he paid nearly $900,000 in restitution for taxes on his collection of cars, which totals around 150. He said that he paid Nebraska sales tax on several cars that were not purchased in Nebraska and have never been in the state.
In his letter, Pieloch lists items seized by the State Patrol that, he claims, have no bearing on the case against him. He also said that thousands of dollars in cash were seized by officers and not listed on the seizure sheet.
“If these funds are not present among the seized items by the NSP,” said Pieloch, “Then I, as an American citizen, would like felony theft charges to be filed against the Nebraska State Patrol.”
Pieloch also said in his letter, “For an individual who has already donated more than $500,000 to Nebraska non-profit organizations in 2011 and who paid, in 2010, more than $7,000,000 in a variety of taxes ... (the State of Nebraska's) perceived sales tax owed issue is shocking.”
He said that other states that have had a tax, a fee or a form due by Pieloch have contacted him by fax, mail, e-mail or phone.
“I guess the State of Nebraska is behind the rest of the country on these modes of communication,” he said.
In an application for the Melbourne Economic Enhancement District Program in Melbourne, Fla., which would provide $2,500 to Pharma Chemie for each new job created, Pieloch stated, “Pharma Chemie, Inc., is contemplating a 35,000--square-foot expansion in the City of Melbourne for the manufacture of pet supplements.” Melbourne is located about 26 miles south of Cape Canaveral, Fla.
In his letter, Pieloch said, “After reading what has been happening in Nebraska the past year to my family and me, no one needs to ask why I have started to explore options to move all or part of Pharma Chemie, with its roughly 40 employees, to another state. Would you continue to do business in Nebraska if you were me?”
Pieloch is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Lancaster County Court on Oct. 24 on a charge of evasion of sales tax.
