90 Days Behind Bars, $30K Restitution For 1 Of 4 In Half Moon Bay-Area Landfill Fraud Case

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA – One of four defendants in a fraud case at the Ox Mountain Landfill just east of Half Moon Bay was sentenced to 90 days in jail on Tuesday, according to San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

Jose Oliver Lopez, 33, of Tracy was also sentenced by Judge Elizabeth Lee to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $30,842 in restitution.

Three other defendants in the case had their sentencing delayed until next month. Their defense attorneys said in court that they had already paid restitution, so prosecutors are working to verify that, Wagstaffe said.
The four pleaded no contest to one count of grand theft each for defrauding nearly $1.4 million between January 2010 and August 2013 through their jobs at the Ox Mountain Landfill.

They all worked as weigh house operators monitoring customer transactions going in and out of the landfill. They misclassified construction waste as green waste, which is cheaper to dispose of because of its minimal environmental impact, according to prosecutors.

They also recorded incomplete or partial truck weights to certain customers. When the Ox Mountain management discovered the thefts, they confronted the employees, who admitted the crimes, prosecutors said.

Sentencing is scheduled on Dec. 14 for 27-year-old Isaac Molina Lopez, 46-year-old Rui Navalhas and 46-year-old Orlando Pires.

If they made full restitution, their charge could be reduced to a misdemeanor.

According to their plea agreements, each defendant will receive a sentence of no more than 90 days in jail.

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--Bay City News/Image via San Mateo County RecycleWorks