Stephen P. Aguiar, Jr. Guilty of Mail Fraud, Massachusetts 2017

State: Massachusetts
Category: Fraud &#038; Financial Crimes
Source: <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/owner-trash-company-pleads-guilty-fraud" style="color:#cc0000;" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">DOJ Press Release ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Â Ã¢â‚¬â€

Garbage mogul Stephen P. Aguiar, Jr. has struck out. The 47-year-old Westport resident pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to defrauding the operator of the Fall River Landfill out of a whopping $473,000 in disposal fees.

According to court documents, Aguiar, who owned and operated Cleanway Disposal & Recycling, Inc. and JS Aguiar Enterprises, Inc., made a killing by charging different rates for trash collected in Fall River versus trash collected outside the city. A clever scheme, to be sure, but one that ultimately landed Aguiar in hot water.

Between 2009 and 2014, Aguiar misrepresented the origin of a significant portion of the trash he disposed at the landfill. He claimed he was disposing trash from the Fall River Housing Authority, when in fact he was dumping trash collected from his private clients.

Prosecutors say that Aguiar’s scheme was simple: he’d collect trash from his private clients in Fall River and then claim he was disposing of it at the landfill at the lower rate. But when he was collecting trash from outside Fall River, he’d charge the higher rate. It was a lucrative scam that netted Aguiar a cool $473,000.

Aguiar faces up to 20 years in the slammer, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000, restitution, and forfeiture. His sentencing is set for July 17, 2017.

Aguiar’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristina E. Barclay of Weinreb’s Public Corruption Unit. The case is a reminder that even the most unsavory characters can fall victim to the law.

It’s clear that Aguiar’s trash business was a house of cards, built on deceit and corruption. But in the end, it’s the taxpayers who are left holding the bag – or in this case, the trash.

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