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Metal Recycling News April 18, 2015 02:00:23 AM

Rensselaer scrap metal thieves sentenced in $52,000 theft

Paul Ploumis
ScrapMonster Author
Two former Rensselaer city public works employees who teamed up with the department's commissioner to steal more than

Rensselaer scrap metal thieves sentenced in $52,000 theft

ALBANY (Scrap Monster): Two former Rensselaer city public works employees who teamed up with the department's commissioner to steal more than $52,000 from the city by pocketing cash they got for scrap metal were sentenced Thursday to probation and ordered to pay the city back.

Jeffrey Clark and his supervisor Ronald Foust appeared separately before Rensselaer County Judge Andrew Ceresia and were ordered to pay $17,873 each in restitution.

Clark pleaded guilty to fourth-degree attempted grand larceny, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to three years of probation. Foust pleaded to fourth-degree grand larceny, a felony, and was sentenced to five years of probation.

They will both have the duration of their probation to pay the restitution.

Foust received the stiffer sentence because he was Clark's supervisor, said state Assistant Attorney General Christopher Baynes, whose office prosecuted the case.

The men said nothing during their sentencings. Clark was represented by attorney Lucas Mihuta and Foust by David Goldin.

The former commissioner, Thomas Capuano, pleaded guilty to fourth-degree grand larceny in March and will be sentenced in May to five years of probation and the same amount of restitution.

Refrigerators, stoves, copper coil and other metals are routinely picked up by city sanitation workers and taken to Rensselaer Iron, a scrap yard in Rensselaer County with which the city has an account.

The company wrote a check to the city for the metal turned in.

But court records indicate that Foust, then the foreman of the city sanitation crew, told investigators that more than five years ago he got the idea to separate the scrap metal from the bulk metal, and take the scrap metal to Capitol Scrap in Albany, which paid cash.

Foust said he pocketed extra money from the scrap metal without anyone knowing the bulk metals were stripped of parts. They then split the proceeds three ways.

Foust, according to authorities, shared his idea with Capuano, who approved it and allowed him to use a city truck to make the trips during regular business hours.

According to court documents, Capuano, Foust and Clark, a laborer in the DPW, split the proceeds three ways between 2009 and 2013.

Authorities said surveillance footage from a local scrap yard showed Foust and Clark cashing in items discarded by city residents.

Courtesy: www.timesunion.com

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