White Collar Crime News

7 Charged with Various Environmental Crimes in New Jersey May 21, 2010

The New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice Major Crimes Bureau has obtained four separate state grand jury indictments charging a total of seven individuals with various environmental crimes, including four men charged for illegally dumping 18 drums containing inks and used solvents at an industrial property on Johnston Avenue in Jersey City on April 30.

Robert Clark Jr., 49, Rodney Williams, 46, Kevin L. Allen, 41, and Timothy Smith, 39, all of Jersey City, were each indicted on Wednesday, May 19, on charges of third-degree illegal disposal of solid waste and third-degree criminal mischief.

The indictment alleges that on April 30, the defendants disposed of 18 drums containing at least 250 (but less than 1,000) gallons of waste at a site not authorized by the Department of Environmental Protection to accept such waste. An investigation determined that Clark, a scrap metal dealer, was at a business in Jersey City looking for metal when an employee of that business offered him $250 to dispose of the drums. Clark and the three other men allegedly used a white box truck to transport the drums to the site on Johnston Avenue, where they illegally dumped them.

On May 3, the Jersey City Office of Emergency Management alerted detectives from the Environmental Crimes Section of the Division of Criminal Justice that the Jersey City Fire Department had been dispatched to a report of an unknown green liquid being discharged from a lot and into a storm drain on Fairmount Avenue. Fire Department units discovered the drums containing unknown substances, which had been illegally dumped at an industrial site at 532 Johnston Ave. Environmental Crimes Section detectives processed the scene for evidence and ultimately traced the drums to the defendants, who were arrested on May 5 and May 13. The Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Emergency Response also responded.

A separate May 19 indictment charged Joseph Volpe of Mays Landing, with third-degree unlawful disposal of regulated medical waste. The indictment alleges that on March 20, Volpe knowingly disposed of medical waste in an unlawful manner at 130 West Weymouth Road in Vineland. An investigation determined that Volpe allegedly dumped a box containing approximately 2,000 used hypodermic needles in front of a car wash at that location.

A third May 19 indictment charged James Buechler of Elsinboro, with fourth-degree uttering a forged document. The indictment alleges that on Dec. 8, 2008, Buechler falsified a Vineland Environmental Laboratories Certificate of Analysis. An investigation determined that, while attempting to sell a property located at 407 Chestnut Street in Elsinboro, Buechler allegedly forged the data in the certificate, making it appear that the well water on the property had pH and nitrate levels that were within New Jersey DEP and Federal EPA regulations, when, in fact, they were not. The indictment further alleges that Buechler removed the following sentences from the original certificate: “This waster does not comply with NJDEP and Federal EPA limits for potable water supply. This water does NOT comply with NJDEP and Federal EPA Chemical limits for potable water.”

A fourth indictment, which was handed up yesterday (May 20), charged Maryland B. Woods of Newark, with third-degree unlawfully causing a hazardous discharge and fourth-degree unlawful discharge of a pollutant. Woods allegedly violated the Water Pollution Control Act by discharging oil-contaminated water into a sewer located on Pomona Avenue in Newark.