Attorney General’s Office and Division of Criminal Justice Continue to Investigate and Prosecute Urban Environmental Crime

Urban Environmental Initiative Targets Quality of Life Crime

Criminal Prosecutions Charge Illegal Storage of Hazardous Chemicals in Middlesex and Cumberland Counties...
Abandoned Trailers Filled with Solid and Hazardous Waste in Passaic, Union and Essex Counties...
Cyanide Contaminated Wastewater Discharged into Newark Public Sewer System...
Environmental Fraud in Monmouth and Burlington Counties...
Municipal Police Departments Receive Environmental Crimes Handbook

• State Grand Jury indictment charging W. Scott Sheppard, Debbie Lane, Millville, and Millville Laundry & Dry Cleaning, 26-28 West McNeal St., Millville, Cumberland County, with unlawful storage of hazardous waste (3rd degree). The indictment charges that Sheppard, as President of the defunct Millville Laundry (closed in September, 2001), abandoned hazardous dry cleaning solvents inside the facility. After responding to a Feb. 23, 2004 fire at the abandoned building, local fire officials uncovered the abandoned drums of solvents, including large quantities of tetrachloroethene. If convicted, Sheppard faces up to five years in state prison and a fine of up to $15,000. The indictment was handed-up to Mercer County Superior Court Judge Linda R. Feinberg on Oct. 21.
• State Grand Jury indictment charging Joseph Armstrong, 45, Thompson Street, Roselle, Union County, with conspiracy, unlawful abandonment of a toxic pollutant, unlawful release of a toxic pollutant, criminal mischief, and theft by receiving stolen property. The indictment charged that Armstrong, President of Dock Bumpers, Inc., 1120 Walnut Street, Roselle, stole a tractor trailer, loaded the trailer with 12 55-gallon drums of waste oil and other substances, including toxic pollutants such as lead zinc and copper, and abandoned the trailer on Julia Street in Elizabeth If convicted on all counts, Armstrong faces more than 50 years in state prison and fines exceeding $300,000. The indictment was handed-up to Mercer County Superior Court Judge Maria Marinari Sypek on Aug. 31.
• State Grand Jury indictment charging Henry E. Pettaway, 42, Summer Avenue, Newark, Essex County, with multiple counts of receiving stolen property and criminal mischief. The indictment charges that Pettaway, purportedly employed by James E. Bailey, the owner/operator of a Newark-based demolition business, stole at least five tractor trailers which were then filled with construction debris and abandoned at various locations in Essex County. The stolen trailers, filled with demolition debris, were recovered at Magazine and Paris Streets, Newark; Nye Avenue and 21st Street, Irvington; and 263 16th Ave., Newark. The indictment was returned on Aug. 13.
• In an Accusation filed in Burlington County Superior Court, Burlington County resident Delton Lyons, Dartmouth Court, Evesham, was charged with illegally disposing of home heating oil. Lyons is accused of dumping oil from a home heating oil tank directly into a storm drain near the residence. The oil leached into and contaminated a nearby pond. Lyons will be required to pay $6,000 to the New Jersey Spill Compensation Fund as well as the costs of cleaning-up the contaminated pond. The Accusation was filed on Nov. 18. The Evesham Township Police Department conducted the investigation with the Division of Criminal Justice - Environmental Crimes Bureau.
• Guilty plea by corporate officials representing Morganville Properties, 110 Newfield Ave., Edison, Middlesex County, to a charge of unlawful storage of hazardous waste. In pleading guilty in Middlesex County Superior Court, the corporation admitted to unlawfully storing chemicals and other hazardous wastes for a period of at least two years (August, 2002 to May, 2004) at a truck yard in the Raritan Center. During that time, some of the chemicals leaked out of the containers and onto the ground. As a result of the Nov. 12 guilty plea, the corporation will pay approximately $50,000 in clean-up costs, a $10,000 criminal fine, and $6,700 to the New Jersey Spill Compensation Fund.
• Guilty plea in Essex County Superior Court to a criminal Accusation charging Distribution Freight Systems, Inc., 221 Frelinghuysen Ave., Newark, Essex County, with the reckless transportation of solid waste to a location not authorized to accept such waste. The Nov. 4 Accusation charged that corporate officials from Distribution Freight unlawfully allowed a tractor trailer loaded with construction and demolition debris to be abandoned on 39th Street in Paterson. The company was ordered to pay more than $5,000 to remove and clean-up the abandoned debris.
• Guilty plea in Union County Superior Court to a criminal Accusation which charged Ryan Bossert, Hillside Avenue, Hillside, Union County, with transportation of hazardous waste to a place which does not have authorization to accept such waste. The Oct. 20 Accusation charged that between March 19 and May, 12, Bossert moved a tractor trailer containing solid and hazardous waste from a business location at 470 Hillside Ave. in Hillside and abandoned the trailer in a vacant lot at the intersection of Empire and Victoria Streets in Newark.
• Guilty plea in Essex County Superior Court to a criminal Accusation which charged Jorge Roldan, 54, Polk Street, Newark, Essex County, President of Precise Plating, Inc., with negligent violation of the Water Pollution Control Act. In pleading guilty on Oct. 8, Roldan admitted that on March 5, the company intentionally discharged waste water containing cyanide in excess of permit levels directly into the Newark sewage system. As a result of the violation of the New Jersey Water Pollution Control Act, Roldan and Precise Plating was ordered to pay a $2,500 fine to the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission.