Date: November 15, 2007
Source: US Attorney for the District of Connecticut
SHELTON MAN INVOLVED IN TRASH INDUSTRY RACKETEERING CONSPIRACY SENTENCED TO 15 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON
Kevin J. O'Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JEREMY EVERETT, 32, of Shelton, Connecticut, was sentenced today by Senior United States District Judge Ellen Bree Burns in New Haven to 15 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release. Judge Burns also ordered EVERETT to pay a fine in the amount of $4000. On February 27, 2007, EVERETT pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to violate the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, EVERETT, while the sales manager at Allied Waste, and others, conspired to fraudulently increase garbage collection rates in eastern New York in December 2004. As part of this scheme, several ostensible competitors met at a diner in New York to coordinate their efforts. The meeting was attended by two individuals associated with a Connecticut-based carting company and two members representing New York-based carting companies. At this meeting, which EVERETT did not attend, a member of the enterprise proposed that the carters agree to inflate prices for New York carting services and displayed a piece of paper that listed a suggested price. Telephone calls intercepted both before and after this meeting demonstrate that a co-defendant who attended the meeting apprised EVERETT of the agreement to inflate prices, and EVERETT agreed to honor the agreement to quote inflated prices.
In addition to the price fixing scheme, intercepted telephone conversations revealed that EVERETT agreed in two instances to help a co-conspirator punish competing trash haulers by preventing them from using the Westchester County Transfer Station. According to statements made by the Government in court, in order to be profitable, carting companies need to have access to local transfer stations in order to control business costs. By locking a carter out of area transfer stations, the conspirators sought to intimidate competitors.
To date, 33 individuals and 10 businesses have been charged with various offenses stemming from long-term investigation into the waste-hauling industry in Connecticut and eastern New York.
This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division, the United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General and the Connecticut State Police. The United States Marshals Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration's Office of Professional Responsibility, and the Connecticut Department of Correction have provided critical assistance in the Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Michael J. Gustafson, Raymond F. Miller and Henry K. Kopel are prosecuting this case.
For more information, contact:
U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov.
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