Opinion ID: 739683
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Rochester, New York, Site

Text: 21 Ultimately, the defendants' attempts to persuade PADER to allow the Matamoras dump to re-open were unsuccessful. Seeking a new site for C & D dumping, Herzog and Christiansen arranged in mid-1989 to meet Harry Purcell, then the Rochester, New York, Township Supervisor. At this time, the Rochester dump was the subject of a New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC) remediation order directing that Rochester reclaim, with stone fill, land that had been excavated during earlier strip-mining on the site of the dump. When Purcell met with Herzog and Christiansen, Rochester had made no progress toward compliance with this order. 22 Herzog proposed that his newly-created entity, Almordon Environmental Corp., fill in the Rochester site with C & D debris. Christiansen told Purcell that he could supply test results from Matamoras which would demonstrate to NYDEC that the Matamoras fill was clean fill. Moreover, Christiansen and Herzog falsely told Purcell that the Matamoras site had regulatory approval. They also both falsely described allegedly stringent control steps followed at the Matamoras landfill to ensure that nothing but C & D debris was dumped at the site, and falsely represented to Purcell that any bad materials were removed from the Matamoras landfill site by TSLD. In a letter mailed to Purcell dated July 25, 1989, Borden misleadingly wrote that TSLD's Matamoras operation had fully complied with and exceeded all PADER requirements. 23 In further discussions, Herzog and Christiansen arranged for what the defendants described as test loads of debris to be dumped at the Rochester dump in mid-summer 1989. In October 1989, Herzog asked Jerry Dotey, who represented himself to defendants as a licensed engineer, to prepare false test reports about these test loads for Christiansen to provide Purcell. Herzog and Christiansen each explained to Dotey that Purcell needed to give the NYDEC proof that the test loads were untainted. Dotey accordingly altered reports that had been prepared by a laboratory, Prosser Labs, with respect to tests of soil taken from the vicinity of the Matamoras site, to make them seem as though they concerned tests of waste samples taken from the Rochester dump in August 1989. At Christiansen's direction, these altered reports were transmitted to Purcell on October 11, 1989. On November 13, 1989, Christiansen confirmed that he had seen the altered reports. 24 In early 1990, Purcell made written application to NYDEC, which included the altered Prosser Lab reports, to use the C & D debris to reclaim the Rochester mine site. NYDEC officials rejected the proposed use of C & D debris as reclamation materials, and, on March 2, 1990, wrote a letter to Purcell that was critical of the materials. Despite NYDEC's reaction, Herzog and Purcell agreed that Almordon would build a road within the dump perimeter. Herzog then undertook to obtain approval for dumping from the Township. In early 1990, Herzog told the Town Attorney, Thomas Halley, that he, Herzog, could reopen the Matamoras landfill tomorrow if he wished to do so. Because this statement was in apparent contradiction to information that Township officials had received from persons in Pennsylvania, Halley asked Christiansen for an explanation. Christiansen then materially misrepresented virtually every aspect of Herzog's management of the Matamoras landfill. When Halley subsequently advised the Township Board that it could proceed with the Almordon project, he did so in reliance on these representations. 25 On May 1, 1990, Purcell signed a contract with Almordon on behalf of the Rochester Township, with Christiansen signing for Almordon. Under the contract, Almordon agreed to test every truckload of C & D debris for gross contaminants, using a Micro Tip, an expensive specialty device which tests for toxins in the atmosphere; to carry liability insurance on the project; and to pay the Town $2 per cubic yard of waste dumped. 26 On April 22, 1990, in an intercepted telephone conversation, Herzog told Christiansen not to worry about paying the Micro Tip manufacturer, Photo-Vac International, because they were going to display the tester and then return it with a claim that it did not work. He made similar indications in a May 13, 1990, conversation with Rogan. 27 Dumping began at the Rochester site on May 10, 1990. In a May 14, 1990, telephone conversation, again intercepted, Christiansen described the defendants' intention to dump up to 250,000 cubic yards of C & D debris in the Rochester dump. Once the dumping began, however, the immediate public reaction was hostile, and due to public pressure and the discovery by a citizens' group that Almordon had not obtained the required permits, the Rochester Township Board voted on June 7, 1990, to stop the dumping. 28 After extensive investigation by both state and federal agencies, indictment on sixty counts was filed against Herzog, Shay, Christiansen, and eleven co-defendants on September 20, 1993. 6 Trial began on February 6, 1995, and consumed fifteen weeks. Before the jury was charged, the District Court granted defense motions pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 29 to dismiss Counts Three and Four, which charged Herzog, Shay, Christiansen and others with mail fraud and wire fraud directed at the State of Pennsylvania, on the ground that Pennsylvania regulators were not deprived of revenues (in the form of licensing and dumping fees) from the Matamoras dump because Pennsylvania would never have granted a permit for this type of landfill operation. On Government motion, the Court also dismissed Count Thirty-Eight, charging a co-defendant with obstruction of justice, and certain money laundering counts as to defendant Frank Salerno. 29 On May 18, 1995, the jury returned its verdict. Herzog was convicted of the following eighteen charges: Count One charged all defendants with participating in the conduct of a racketeering enterprise in violation of RICO, 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c), in connection with both the Matamoras and the Rochester landfills; Count Two charged all with conspiring to participate in the RICO enterprise in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d); 7 Count Five charged Herzog, Christiansen, Shay and others with wire fraud directed at haulers, transporters and processors of C & D debris in connection with the Matamoras site; Counts Seventeen through Nineteen charged Herzog, Shay, Christiansen and others with laundering proceeds of the Matamoras landfill through the Luchese Crime Family in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(A)(i) and (B)(i)(2); Count Twenty charged Herzog, Shay, Christiansen and others with interstate travel to carry on unlawful activity (money laundering) in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2 and 1952; Count Twenty-Seven charged Herzog and one other defendant with mail fraud directed at CHMR representatives; Count Twenty-Eight charged Herzog and one other with wire fraud directed at CHMR representatives; Count Thirty charged Herzog, Christiansen and others with mail fraud directed at the Town of Rochester; Count Thirty-One charged the same defendants with wire fraud against Rochester; Count Thirty-Three charged Herzog, Christiansen and one other defendant with mail fraud directed at Photo-Vac International; Count Thirty-Four charged the same defendants with wire fraud directed at Photo-Vac; Count Forty-Two charged Herzog and others with conspiracy to defraud the IRS in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, by hiding payments made to members of the Luchese Crime Family; Count Forty-Three charged Herzog and others with aiding in the filing of false tax returns which failed to disclose the payments to the Lucheses, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(2); and Counts Fifty-Seven through Fifty-Nine each charged Herzog and others with money laundering with intent to engage in conduct constituting a violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2 and 1956(a)(1)(A)(ii). Herzog was acquitted of the remaining counts and predicate acts charged against him. Shay was convicted only on Count Five and acquitted of the remaining counts. Christiansen was convicted on Counts One, Two, Thirty, Thirty-One, Thirty-Three and Thirty-Four, and acquitted of all other counts; the remaining defendants 8 were acquitted of all charges. 30 On February 20, 1996, the court sentenced Herzog to 151 months' imprisonment on each of Counts One, Two, Seventeen through Nineteen, and Fifty-Seven through Fifty-Nine; 60 months' imprisonment on Counts Five, Twenty, Twenty-Seven, Twenty-Eight, Thirty, Thirty-One, Thirty-Three, Thirty-Four, and Forty-Two; and 36 months' imprisonment on Count Forty-Three; all to run concurrently. It also sentenced Herzog to forfeiture of $500,000, 9 a supervised release term of three years on each count, and a special assessment of $900. On February 28, 1996, the court sentenced Shay to 60 months' imprisonment on Count Five, to be followed by a term of supervised release of three years. It further imposed the usual special assessment of $50 against Shay. Herzog is currently serving his sentence. Shay is on bail pending appeal. II