OmniSource Sues Prosecutor in Indiana County

Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI), Fort Wayne, Ind., has announced that its OmniSource-Indianapolis LLC subsidiary has filed a lawsuit against Marion County, Ind., County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi. The company is seeking to have the prosecutor return $275,000 of OmniSource’s money that was seized by the county in connection with a police search of the company’s scrap yards in Indianapolis on Feb. 23, 2009.

According to an SDI release, the pretext for the search were allegations that OmniSource was knowingly purchasing stolen scrap metal, which OmniSource says it has never done. The release says that OmniSource has been, and continues to be, one of the leaders in developing and implementing anti-theft programs and training for both its employees and for the law enforcement community.

In supporting the claim, OmniSource says its programs are designed to assist in the identification of potentially stolen property and, in such instances, to require its employees to take extra precaution to try to ascertain the seller's authority to sell the property and, if the property turns out to have been stolen, to work with law enforcement to prosecute the thief.

OmniSource says that when the company entered the Indianapolis market in 2006, it provided anti-theft training for Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers at its own expense and hired 51 off-duty Indianapolis police officers to provide security and advice at each of its Indianapolis facilities. And, with the help of OmniSource's employees, those officers identified and arrested dozens of suspected metal thieves, says the company.

"We regret that we have been forced to initiate this action," says Mark Millett, OmniSource's president, "but, after almost 20 months, it has become clear that this action by the Prosecutor has never really been about a legitimate concern about metal theft in Marion County or about a desire for accuracy or justice. It has become quite apparent that the Prosecutor's real motivation was about headlines and a money grab, threatening OmniSource with forfeiture of all of OmniSource's Indianapolis facilities."

OmniSource adds that to assist him with his plan, the country prosecutor hired a private lawyer, Greg Garrison, to organize and pursue the investigation against OmniSource and promised to pay Garrison a percentage of anything Garrison can extract from OmniSource.

"We engage in hundreds of thousands of scrap purchases each year with the best trained anti-theft staff and operating procedures in the industry. How could anyone seriously suggest that OmniSource intended to purchase stolen scrap metal when OmniSource annually devotes hundreds of hours and spends hundreds of thousands of dollars attempting to prevent metal theft and works cooperatively with the police to create an atmosphere at all OmniSource scrap yards that metal thieves are not only not welcome but will be prosecuted," says Ben Eisbart, OmniSource’s VP and corporate compliance officer.

The suit also contends that Prosecutor Brizzi's forfeiture practices are illegal and unconstitutional and contrary to established standards of conduct for prosecutors, in that he has enlisted a private lawyer to direct a forfeiture case in which he has a direct financial interest.

In an e-mailed statement, a representative from the Marion County prosecutor’s office says that the “office is unable to comment about this case as it's an ongoing investigation.”