N.J. C&D Recycler Pleads Guilty to Illegal Dumping

Lieze Associates, doing business as Eagle Recycling of New Jersey, North Bergen, N.J., has pled guilty in federal court in Utica, N.Y., for conspiring to violate the Clean Water Act and to defraud the United States. The announcement was made by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Environment and Natural Resources Division.

The company pled guilty to one criminal felony count for conspiring to violate the Clean Water Act’s prohibition on filling wetlands and committing wire fraud to conduct that filling.

According to the federal charge, Eagle Recycling and co-conspirators engaged in a multi-year scheme to illegally dump 8,100 tons of pulverized construction and demolition debris that was processed at Eagle Recycling’s North Bergen, N.J., solid waste management facility. According to the DOJ, the processed C&D material was transported to property in Frankfort, N.Y.

According to court documents, Eagle Recycling and other conspirators concealed the illegal dumping by fabricating a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) permit, and forged the name of a DEC official on the permit.

In its plea agreement, Eagle Recycling admitted that once DEC and the U.S. EPA learned of the illegal dumping, the company began concealing, altering and destroying documents, including, but not limited to, destroying documents during the execution of a federal search warrant, secreting documents responsive to grand jury subpoenas, falsifying certifications submitted to the grand jury, and falsifying and submitting an environmental sampling to the EPA.

As part of the plea agreement, Eagle Recycling has agreed to pay a criminal fine of $500,000, to implement an environmental compliance plan at its North Bergen facility, and to pay restitution that may include cleanup costs at the Frankfort site.

“This long-term investigation, first stated in 2006, highlights the complexity of the crime and propensity of the criminal actors to cross state lines to help cover their actions,” says Joe Martens, commissioner of New York’s DEC. “It was only through the cooperative investigation by the New York State Environmental Conservation Police, Bureau of Environmental Crimes (BECI), EPA, U.S. Attorney’s office and the New Jersey State Police that this criminal enterprise was uncovered and further environmental damage avoided," adds Martens.