Orange County car dealer kept thousands in taxes after vehicle sales, officials say

The Department of Revenue said a Central Florida car dealer stole tens of thousands of dollars in sales tax from cars he sold.

The dealer was arrested after the state found that he missed payments for three years and couldn't give an explanation where the money went.

After a customer buys a a vehicle, it's the dealer's responsibility to submit the sales tax collected to the state.

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Officials said that Camilo Alzate elected to keep that money instead.

According to the Department of Revenue's report, Alzate said he operates his business out of a car repair shop on South Orange Blossom Trail and advertises the vehicles on Craigslist.

After the state found that he sold more cats than he filed taxes for, they started asking questions.

Alzate told investigators that all of the funds are deposited into an account, but couldn't say if he spent the money or not.

Records showed that for sales from October 2015 to November 2018, Alzate collected almost $70,000 in sales tax. The state was only able to find about $16,700, which left more than $53,000 unaccounted for.

Investigators believe Alzate had over $1 million altogether in his accounts.

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