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| For
Immediate Release: |
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For
Further Information Contact: |
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| July
26, 2005
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| Office
of The Attorney General
-
Peter C. Harvey,
Attorney General
Division
of Criminal Justice
- Vaughn L. McKoy, Director
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John R. Hagerty
609-984-1936
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Attorney
General’s Office Continues Investigation
& Prosecution of Urban Environmental
Crime
Urban
Environmental Initiative Targets Illegal
Dumping in Urban, Suburban and Rural Communities
Criminal
Indictments Charge Illegal Dumping In Hudson
and Passaic Counties
Essex
County Garbage Hauler Sentenced to 3 Years
in State Prison...
$40,000 in Fines Paid to State Spill Fund...
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|
TRENTON
— New Jersey Attorney General Peter
C. Harvey announced that the Attorney
General’s Urban Environmental Initiative
continues to successfully investigate
and prosecute urban environmental crime
with a series of indictments charging
contractors and waste haulers with dumping
construction debris in Hudson and Passaic
counties; the sentencing of a freelance
garbage hauler to three years in state
prison; and more than $40,000 in criminal
fines and penalties directed to the New
Jersey Spill Compensation Fund.
The Attorney General noted that recent
prosecutions by the Urban Environmental
Initiative include the criminal indictment
of several freelance garbage haulers on
charges of collecting and illegally dumping
construction debris in Hudson and Passaic
counties; the indictment of the owner
of a New York plastics company on charges
of abandoning hazardous waste at the Paterson
Farmer’s Market; and the sentencing
of an Essex County garbage hauler convicted
of dumping hundreds of tires in the Meadowlands
to three years in state prison.
“The
Urban Environmental Initiative is committed
to protecting urban communities from the
illegal, unscrupulous, and often dangerous
practice of dumping debris and hazardous
materials in or near residential communities
and neighborhoods,” Attorney General
Harvey said.
“As our cities and urban areas undergo
renovation and rebuilding, there will
be those who try to cut corners and improperly
dispose of demolition debris, solid waste,
and hazardous and toxic chemicals in back
lots and alleyways. The Attorney General’s
Office is determined that New Jersey’s
communities will not be dumping grounds
and that the residents living in urban
settings are not the forgotten New Jerseyans,”
Harvey said.
Vaughn L. McKoy, Director, Division of
Criminal Justice, said the Environmental
Crimes Bureau recently obtained criminal
indictments on environmental-related charges
and secured the sentencing of several
defendants convicted of environmental
crimes:
-
A
State Grand Jury indictment charged
Andrey Milner, 39, Ryle Avenue, Paterson,
Passaic County, with the illegal disposal
of solid waste, bribery, and criminal
mischief. The indictment charged that
on May 17, 2005, Milner was observed
by a supervisor from the Paterson Department
of Public Works dumping debris at 700
21st Avenue in Paterson. It is alleged
that Milner approached the DPW supervisor
and offered money to ignore the illegal
dumping. The DPW supervisor refused
and contacted the Paterson Police Department.
The indictment charges that Milner,
in an effort to escape, crashed into
the DPW vehicle. Investigation by the
Division of Criminal Justice - Environmental
Crimes Bureau determined that the dumped
debris included garbage, refuse, and
construction material. The State Grand
Jury indictment was handed-up to Mercer
County Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg
on June 24. A complaint summons will
order Milner to appear in Passaic County
Superior Court for arraignment and bail.
Milner faces more than ten years in
state prison and a fine of up to $40,000
upon any conviction. The Paterson Department
of Public Works and the Paterson Police
Department assisted in the investigation.
-
State
Grand Jury indictment charging Derrick
Venable, 39, Minerva Street, Jersey
City, Hudson County, with the illegal
disposal of solid waste. The indictment
charged that on April 4, 2005, Venable,
a freelance garbage hauler, illegally
dumped more than ten cubic yards of
construction debris at the corner of
Berry Lane and Communipaw Avenue in
Jersey City. The Jersey City Incinerator
Authority responded to the scene and
determined that the debris came from
a construction site located at 103 Crescent
Ave. The indictment was handed-up to
Mercer County Superior Court Judge Linda
Feinberg on June 24. A complaint summons
will require that Venable appear in
Hudson County Superior Court for arraignment
and bail. If convicted, Venable faces
up to five years in state prison and
a fine of up to $10,000. The Jersey
City Incinerator Authority and the Jersey
City Police Department assisted in the
investigation.
-
State
Grand Jury indictment of Donald A. Stewart,
51, Jewett Avenue, Jersey City, Hudson
County and Shawn R. Coar, 45, Summit
Avenue, Jersey City, Hudson County,
on a charge of unlawful collection of
solid waste. The indictment alleged
that on Feb. 14, 2005, an Enforcement
Officer assigned to the Hudson County
Improvement Authority - Division of
Enforcement (HCIA), observed two men
loading construction and demolition
debris into a U-Haul vehicle which did
not have Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP) registration decals.
The HCIA officer contacted the Hudson
County Sheriff’s Office. The Hudson
County Sheriff determined that the U-Haul
had been reported stolen from an E.
Orange U-Haul Rent-a-Center in November,
2004. Stewart and Coar were arrested
and charged with receiving stolen property.
The State Grand Jury indictment was
handed-up to Mercer County Superior
Court Judge Linda Feinberg on June 24.
-
Stewart and Coar will be issued a complaint
summons and will be required to appear
in Hudson County Superior Court for
arraignment and bail. If convicted,
each defendant faces up to 18 months
in state prison and a fine of up to
$10,000. The Hudson County Improvement
Authority and the Hudson County Sheriff’s
Office assisted in the investigation.
-
A
State Grand Jury indictment charged
Leonard Mermelstein, 66, 47th Street,
Brooklyn, NY, the owner/operator of
Paterson Poly Plastics Company, with
the transportation of hazardous waste
without a permit and criminal mischief.
The indictment alleges that Mermelstein,
under a New York court order to clean-up
debris at an industrial yard located
at 185 Riverdale Ave., Yonkers, NY,
filled a tractor-trailer with contaminated
soil and debris and ordered an employee
to drive the material to a rented industrial
yard located on Kentucky Avenue in Paterson.
It is charged that the trailer remained
at the Kentucky Avenue location from
May - December, 2003. The trailer was
then moved to the Paterson Farmer’s
Market area where it was abandoned in
Dec., 2003. Analysis of the soil and
debris located inside the trailer determined
that the material was hazardous (37.5
ppm TCLP lead). The New Jersey Spill
Compensation Fund paid $22,347 to remove
and properly dispose of the material.
The State Grand Jury indictment was
handed-up to Mercer County Superior
Court Judge Linda Feinberg on June 17.
Mermelstein will be issued a complaint
summons to appear in Passaic County
Superior Court for arraignment and bail.
If convicted, Mermelstein faces more
than five years in state prison, a fine
of up to $25,000, and clean-up costs.
The Paterson Police Department assisted
in the investigation.
-
The
Environmental Crimes Bureau secured
the sentencing of Union County resident
Elton Ren Williams, 46, Madison Avenue,
Elizabeth, in mid-June. Williams was
sentenced to three years in state prison
for dumping more than 500 tires near
the Newark Airport. The sentence, imposed
by Essex County Superior Court Judge
Donald J. Volkert, was the first prison
sentence imposed under the 2004 New
Jersey Solid Waste Crimes law which
increased penalties associated with
illegal dumping. The law created a second
degree crime (five to ten years in state
prison) for knowingly transporting or
disposing solid waste at unauthorized
locations. Williams, a freelance garbage
hauler, pleaded guilty to illegally
dumping tires and auto repair shop wastes
such as oil and grease, at a vacant
site located off Routes 1 & 9 in
Newark. The investigation uncovered
a large number of discarded tires, cardboard
boxes containing various automotive
parts, containers of antifreeze, brake
fluid, oil, rags and related automotive
wastes strewn over a large area along
the outskirts of the Newark Airport
and the Meadowlands.
-
In June, Union County Superior Court
Judge Scott J. Moynihan ordered the
owner of a Roselle, Union County, trucking
company to repay the New Jersey Spill
Compensation Fund $32,000 after pleading
guilty to using stolen trailers to abandon
drums of toxic waste on the streets
of Elizabeth. In pleading guilty on
-
May 22 to a charge of abandoning toxic
pollutants, Joseph Armstrong, 45, Thompson
Street, Roselle, Union County, the owner/President
of Dock Bumpers, Inc., 1120 Walnut Street,
Roselle, admitted that he stole a tractor
trailer, loaded the trailer with twelve
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.
Armstrong was also sentenced to 120
days in the Union County Jail.
The Urban Environmental Initiative represents
a partnership between the Department of
Environmental Protection’s (DEP)
Compliance and Enforcement Bureau and
the Division of Criminal Justice - Environmental
Crimes Bureau. The initiative is geared
to response, investigation and prosecution
of environmental crimes in urban, suburban
and rural communities and industrial areas
and targets criminal activity such as
the illegal dumping of construction debris
and other solid waste, illegal discharges
of pollutants into waterways and the air,
and other activities which negatively
impact the quality of life for residents
in urban neighborhoods and communities.
The investigations and prosecutions were
coordinated by Supervising Deputy Attorney
General Edward Bonanno and Deputy Attorney’s
General Bruce Kmosko, Robert Donovan,
Betty Rodriquez, Phillip Leahy, and John
Higgins. Acting Supervising State Investigator
Jeffrey Gross and State Investigators,
Stephen Politowski, Dawn Ryan, Steven
Ogulin, Jeffrey Hill, and Stephen Coraggio
conducted the investigations. All are
assigned to the Division
of Criminal Justice - Environmental
Crimes Bureau.
Attorney General Harvey said that the
key to a successful enforcement initiative
against illegal dumpers must include the
“eyes and ears” of neighborhood
residents and community watch groups reporting
suspicious activities. The DEP maintains
a 24-Hour Environmental Hot Line -- 609-292-7172
-- to receive reports of environmental
crimes. Information regarding environmental
enforcement activities can be obtained
by logging on to the Division of Criminal
Justice web page at www.njdcj.org or the
Department of Environmental Protection
Web site at www.state.nj.us/dep.
###
_ag-ph_update.gif) |
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