Police Say Persons of Interest Identified in Stolen Dumpster Case

The Peabody police have released further details on the ongoing investigation into a stored at a location off Pulaski Street. The scheme, at least, stretched into New Hampshire, according to police.

Police believe the perpetrators were using the Dumpsters for their own business in some capacity, including leasing or renting the Dumpsters to law-abiding customers. These also aren’t the typical trash containers placed in the alley behind a restaurant; police say these are 20- to 30-yard open top Dumpsters normally found at a construction site and worth between $4,000 to $5,000 each.

The overall value of the stolen property was estimated at just over $100,000.

Police say at least one victim of the scheme is from Peabody, but the rest are from across Massachusetts and in New Hampshire. According to a recent police log entry, the Peabody office of Casella Waste Systems, Inc. had four Dumpsters stolen, which were then recovered by Detective Ralph Scopa, who is one of the lead detectives in the investigation.

“There are people of interest that we’d like to talk to,” Detective Peter Olson said on Wednesday. And at least one of those potential suspects has already hired a lawyer, Olson added.

Olson declined to reveal the name of the victim who first informed police of the scheme, but did say on Wednesday that the man has a company in Marshfield, from which some Dumpsters were stolen recently. That man was actually tipped off by a friend who noticed the collection of Dumpsters at the site, Olson said.

The man took a trip to Peabody to check out the tip and was able to positively identify his stolen property along with Dumpsters taken from several other companies, according to Olson. He also saw one of those Dumpsters being loaded on a truck and hauled away. The man then called police to the scene on Aug. 2.

“Dumpsters were painted badly in some cases so that you could see the original owners’ [names],” said Olson. The true owners' names had been filed off the Dumpsters and painted over in black paint in most cases – other identifying marks were also hidden or removed – although not all of those attempts were apparently successful.

The Marshfield man also told detectives the Dumpsters were unique enough in their design between companies for him to identify several of them, Olson said.

Most of the Dumpsters were then picked up from the site by the rightful owners within two days.

Detectives have identified 10 separate victims and a total of 23-25 stolen Dumpsters. Olson said there’s reason to believe this other company was using other sites to store the Dumpsters and/or conduct business.

Olson said detectives have met with the District Attorney’s office, the Attorney General’s office and police from other communities involved in the case to determine the next courses of action while pouring over all the available evidence.

Olson said the perpetrators of the scheme were renting the space where the Dumpsters were found.

Scopa, Detective Robert Church and Detective Sgt. Glen Fredericks are heading up the investigation. Anyone with information on the case should contact Scopa at rscopa@peabodypolice.org or 978-538-6324.