A trucking
company agent and a former state tax commission employee pleaded
not guilty Monday to a grand jury indictment, according to a published
report.
The grand
jury indicted Jason Andrew Frias and former Oklahoma Tax Commission
employee, Herbert Coles Jr. on charges of conspiracy to defraud
the state. The two men are accused of helping cheat the state
out of $45,978 in commercial truck fees.
The grand
jury says Frias or Coles collected cab-card payments from out-of-state
truckers 29 times but kep the money "for their own personal
gain."
Frias
was released after posting $2,000 bail.
Twenty-three-year-old
Frias' company Oklahoma Truck Tags For Less tauts "no sales
tax, no excise tax, no personal property tax" on its web
site, which offers a number of trucking industry services. The
web site lists Frias and Mack James as company contacts, however,
James did not respond to requests for comment on Frias' arrest.
Frias and
James are among the seven people who have been charged during
the OTC investigation.
