Garofalo Carting Company Defrauded Town Of Smithtown: SCDA

RIVERHEAD, NY — V. Garofalo Carting, Inc. and its principal officer and employee were sentenced on Friday for a scheme to defraud the Town of Smithtown, Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy D. Sini's office announced.

The company illegally passed off consumer waste as commercial waste generated by businesses in the Town of Smithtown. The corporation also violated prevailing wage laws by underpaying its employees.

Mario Garofalo, 61, of East Northport, and Robert "Bobby" Garofalo, 64, of Kings Park, each pleaded guilty on May 13 to attempted enterprise corruption (a C felony). The corporate entity V. Garofalo Carting, Inc., pleaded guilty to enterprise corruption (a B felony). The three were sentenced on Friday to conditional discharges, which included restitution payments of $222,000 to the Town of Smithtown and $32,000 to underpaid employees of the company.

"These defendants were stealing money from the taxpayers in the Town of Smithtown and from their own hardworking employees," Sini stated via press release. "This was an extremely complex investigation and prosecution, but with today’s sentencing, this criminal enterprise has been effectively shut down and justice has been served for Smithtown residents."

Over the course of several years, the company defrauded the Town of Smithtown by scheming to unlawfully cause payment by the Town of Smithtown for the disposal of waste that came from outside the Town.

The Town of Smithtown pays Covanta Waste Management for the disposal of commercial waste from certain businesses operating within the Town. The acceptable commercial waste must be generated from known businesses within the Town, registered by unique accounts with the Town, and the registered businesses must pay fees and receive a unique medallion identifying the establishment as part of the plan. The carting companies, including V. Garofalo Carting, Inc., submit a manifest each time Smithtown commercial waste is brought to Covanta, attesting to the contents.

The Garofalos and their company, V. Garofalo Carting, Inc., repeatedly disposed of waste collected throughout Long Island from their customers, including through roll-off containers, at the Covanta facility, and lied that the waste was solely Town of Smithtown commercial waste. Overall, the Garofalo corporation unlawfully avoided paying $222,000 in fees which were instead paid by the Town.

"That’s $222,000 in residents’ tax dollars that these defendants pocketed for no reason other than their own greed," Sini said.

The Garofalos and their company profited from the scheme by falsifying business records, including their garbage disposal manifests, and submitting them to the Town of Smithtown for payment. They also profited from the fees collected from their private customers for both garbage pick-up as well as roll-off container rentals.

Additionally, the Town of Smithtown told Sini's office of prevailing wage claims by employees of V. Garofalo Carting, Inc. The corporation had underpaid employees in the amount of $32,000. As part of the sentencing, the corporation was required to pay the $32,000 to workers.