Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Cabal Of 6 Arrested In $13 Million Embezzlement & Bribery Scheme At California Landfill

Authorities arrested six individuals, five employees of Waste Management, Inc.'s Morgan Hill, California landfill and one "commercial waste broker" in an embezzlement and bribery scheme that reportedly lasted a decade and cost the company some $13 million in the past two years alone. James Phillip Lucero, of Carmel, California, pictured left, is alleged to have bribed Waste Management employees at the landfill in exchange for dumping construction debris while keeping much of the fees for himself paid by the construction companies that hired him. Investigators claim that as much as $20,000 in bribes were being paid per month in recent months through Lucero's firm, Resource Development Service. Those Waste Management employees arrested include Richard Marvin Andrade, 62; Joseph Morse, 49, and Daniel Sanchez, 49, all of San Jose, as well as Jose Edmundo Salvatier, 31, of Los Banos; and Charles Thomas Overton, 40, of Shingleton. Waste Management says that a total of 9 employees have been fired as a result of their own investigation. Lucero reportedly has been living an opulent lifestyle in Carmel, a tony seaside village that boasts onetime mayor Clint Eastwood, owning a Bentley automobile and an Andalusian show horse named, ironically, "Fugitivo." Lucero could face up to 15 years in prison and the other defendants as much as 7 years each.

Read the story here, here and here.

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