TRENTON — Former NFL star Plaxico Burress has been indicted on charges he failed to pay $47,903 in New Jersey income taxes, authorities said Thursday.
Burress, 37, of Totowa, faces one count of issuing a bad check or electronic funds transfer, and one count of willful failure to pay state tax. Both are third-degree charges that carry a maximum penalty of five years in state prison and a $15,000 fine.
The indictment against Burress was handed up April 22 in Mercer County, where the state's Division of Taxation is based. Authorities said the case against Burress is the first prosecution under a new N.J. law that makes a failed electronic funds transfer the same as a writing a bad check.
Burress filed his 2013 income tax return with the New Jersey Division of Taxation on Oct. 20, 2014, but the electronic payment to cover the $47,903 he owed did not go through, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office. The Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services alerted Burress, but received no response, authorities said.
A criminal complaint came in February after additional efforts to reach Burress by the State Department of the Treasury's Office of Criminal Investigation were unsuccessful, according to the prosecutor's office.
Under a 2014 bill signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie, New Jersey law allows criminal penalties to be imposed on people who send insufficient e-payments just as if they were bounced checks.
A failed electronic payment occurs when an account designated by an online taxpayer to draw payment either does not exist or there are insufficient funds in that account. The new law went into effect on Sept. 20.
An arraignment date has not yet been set for the latest New Jersey tax charges, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office.
Burress, who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Giants and New York Jets over an 11-year pro career, is no stranger to legal troubles.
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Burress in 2009 pleaded guilty to a weapons charge and spent two years in prison after he accidentally shot himself at a Manhattan night club in 2008. He was playing for the Giants at the time of the shooting.
Three days after the shooting, the Giants officials placed him on the non-football injury list, making him ineligible to play for the remainder of the regular season and playoffs. The team also fined Burress an undisclosed amount and suspended him for four games "for conduct detrimental to the team for multiple and repeated violations of club rules."
He was released from prison in 2011 and signed a deal with the New York Jets before returning to the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he began is NFL career.
Burress also faced a civil lawsuit in 2009 from a Pennsylvania car dealer in a dispute over a Chevy Avalanche worth an estimated $36,000 given to Burress in exchange for autograph signings and promotional appearances. The car dealer alleged Burress didn't hold up his end of the deal.
The car was eventually seized by New York City police after Burress let someone else drive it. A civil jury in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania decided that Burress owed $1,700 in damages -- far less than the $19,000 sought by the dealer.
Burress most recently worked as an NFL analyst on SportsNet New York's SportsNite.
James McEvoy may be reached at jmcevoy@njtimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @byJamesMcEvoy. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.