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March 20, 2008
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OWNER OF CHESHIRE COMPANY INVOLVED IN
WASTE-HAULING CONSPIRACY SENTENCED TO 15 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON
Kevin J. O’Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut,
announced that ARTHUR WALLINGER, also known as AJ Wallinger, 43, of Blacks Road,
Cheshire, 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, for conspiring to violate the federal Racketeer
Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Judge Burns also ordered
WALLINGER to forfeit $25,000 to the United States. WALLINGER, who is the
owner and operator of AJ Waste Systems, a carting company located in Cheshire,
pleaded guilty to the offense on June 27, 2007.
According to documents filed with
the Court and statements made in court, WALLINGER and others conspired to perpetuate
a system, commonly called the “property rights system.” Carters
engaged in the property rights system would not service or compete for other
carters’ customers. The property rights system essentially destroys
free enterprise, allowing the participating carters to artificially inflate their
prices and leaving waste removal customers with no other options. In this
scheme, which was directed at commercial and municipal customers, participating
carters agreed to quote inflated prices to customers controlled by other carters.
On February 15, 2005, the FBI surveilled
a meeting between WALLINGER and several co-conspirators at a restaurant in Waterbury. At
this meeting, WALLINGER agreed to participate in the property rights system by
not interfering with a proposed price increase about to be put through by another
participating company. WALLINGER also agreed not to attempt to take any
accounts owned by other participating companies in exchange for a reciprocal
promise that other participants would not solicit his accounts.
Approximately two weeks after the
meeting, a co-conspirator was instructed to tell WALLINGER that one of WALLINGER’s
customers had solicited the co-conspirator’s company for a price quote
and was quoted an inflated price so as not take the account from WALLINGER. Specifically,
the co-conspirator was instructed to tell WALLINGER that his co-conspirators
were “taking care of him.” The co-conspirator was advised,
however, to “speak in code” because WALLINGER did not like to discuss
these matters on the phone.
To date, 33 individuals and 10 businesses
have been charged with various offenses stemming from a long-term investigation
into the waste-hauling industry in Connecticut and eastern New York.
This matter is being investigated
by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal
Investigation, 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
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