Interesting things sometimes turn up when a landfill is investigated.

Taylor West wrote for the AJC 5 June 2014, Police: Arrest warrants issued in connection with $1 million scam,

Multiple arrest warrants have been issued in relation to a trail of criminal activity resulting in the theft of more than $1 million from a Fulton County business, authorities said.

Police began an investigation in mid-April when Waste Management Inc. made a complaint regarding Willow Oak Landfill, which it owns, following an anonymous tip and a private investigation, according to the Palmetto Police Department today.

In this case it was the landfill operator that filed a complaint. Waste Management is one of the two largest solid waste companies in the U.S.; the other is ADS.

The complaint alleged that a scale operator named Earnest Martin was accepting money and gifts from companies in exchange for altering the weight of the company trucks that entered the scale. In exchange, police say Martin, 62, of Atlanta, received approximately $65,000 in money and gifts from various companies. An arrest warrant for Martin has been secured by the Palmetto police.

There’s more, including more individuals and more companies, and this:

Each individual is charged with felony counts of theft by deception, theft of services and theft by conversion.

I wonder if including dirty diapers in recycling is illegal? Accepting PCBs into a landfill apparently is illegal, since GA EPD fined Veolia (now ADS) $27,500 for that 30 January 2013. What else is in that Pecan Row landfill, in addition to coal ash and wastewater from a superfund site in Waycross?

Maybe nothing unusual. Maybe if any of our elected or officials or city or county employees ever get curious we’ll find out.

-jsq

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