A Cumberland County attorney who admitted failing to pay more than $250,000 in taxes on income generated from his law firm pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion.

The plea by Douglas Long, 54, of Upper Deerfield, who was managing partner at Long, Marmero & Associates in Woodbury, was announced by New Jersey U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito in a release on Tuesday.

Long was charged with concealing more than $800,000 in personal income as "business expenses" over a span of three years, and failing to pay more than $250,000 in taxes owed to the Internal Revenue Service. In one year, 2014, he concealed $368,000 in income and failed to pay $120,000 in taxes, the office said.

Long pleaded guilty by video conference before U.S. District Judge Noel Hillman of the District of New Jersey, sitting in Camden, to an information charging him with one count of federal income tax evasion, according to the release. Long also agreed to pay restitution to the IRS.

Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 11, 2020, the release noted.

William Hughes Jr. of Porzio, Bromberg & Newman in Morristown represents Long.

"This is something that [Long] has been working with counsel and the government for a number of years," Hughes said in a phone call on Tuesday. "The resolution was a long time in the making.

"He is deeply remorseful and he intends to make full restitution and move on with his life and accept whatever punishment that the court will impose upon him. He has a long history of good work and community service. Not that that's any excuse, but it makes this mistake painfully hard for him and he is working hard to make it up and better his community," Hughes added.

Hughes said that Long's plea by video conference was one of the first out of the Camden vicinage during the new coronavirus pandemic. Hughes praised the remote proceedings.

"The court staff did a spectacular job, going from the judge's deputy clerk to pretrial services and the court stenographer," said Hughes. "And the judge did a very good job to make sure that all the new procedures to follow in order to take a plea by remote were met."

Assistant U.S. attorneys Gabriel Vidoni of the office's Camden branch and Bruce Keller of Special Prosecutions Division prosecuted the matter.

The information charged that, from 2012 through 2015, Long exercised primary control over his southern New Jersey law firm's finances and supervised the company bookkeeper.

It was revealed that a number of Long's personal expenses, including school tuition for his children, utilities and service fees for his personal residences, student loan payments for himself and his spouse, and other expenses, repeatedly were paid out of the law firm's bank accounts, authorities said.

Long directed false classification of these payments as law firm business expenses to avoid his tax obligations, according to the information. He also falsely declared, under penalty of perjury, that his personal tax returns for tax years 2012 through 2015 were true and accurate when they were not, the document said.

The tax evasion charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a potential fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, the release noted.