Ohio AG Indicts Tire Shredders

James Petro, the state of Ohio’s Attorney General, announced his office had received indictments against two individuals in connection with an unlicensed tire transport and shredding scheme.

Jack Vasi and Mary Kay Szabo, doing business as Elyria Acquisition Company No. 1 and Waste Tire Recycling, were indicted after a lengthy probe by several state agencies.

“Improperly handled waste tires present serious environmental threats and my office will vigorously enforce proper management and handling requirements,” Petro said. “Violators will dealt with according to the law.”

Investigators with the Environmental Enforcement Unit and the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation of the Attorney General’s Office, and the Ohio EPA’s Office of Special Investigations, which discovered the illegal operation, participated in the probe.

The investigation revealed that Vasi and Szabo continued to pick up and transport scrap tires after they lost their license to shred and transport waste tires. They also subsequently set up a new shredding operation without notifying Ohio EPA or the Crawford County health department as required by law. Surveillance performed during the investigation established illegal operation of a tire shredder in Crawford County.

Although the indictments were handed up in Crawford County, the on-going operation covered several northern Ohio counties.

Szabo was indicted on 17 counts: 10 counts of transportation without registration, one count of failure to maintain registration, two counts of operating a mobile facility without a license, two counts of possessing criminal tools, one count of complicity and one count of open dumping.

Vasi was indicted on two counts of operating a mobile facility without a license, two counts of possessing criminal tools and one count of complicity.

The Elyria Acquisition Company was indicted on 12 counts: 10 counts of transportation without registration, 1 count of failure to maintain registration and open dumping. WTR was indicted on four counts: two counts of possessing criminal tools and two counts of operating a mobile facility without a license.