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June
3, 2007
Rachel Kaldor
Dairy Institute of California
1127 11th St. Suite
718
Sacramento, CA 95814
Re: ES Plastics / Search
Warrant
This has been a very
productive month. On May 1, 2007 while conducting interviews of
recyclers in the Los Angeles area to ensure that they had
received our certified mail packets detailing the new beverage
container laws, CSC identified a plastic recycling company not
listed on any of the states resource material or web sites but
which had been identified by other recyclers as possibly
accepting milk crates. Bill Kroese from Rockview Farms also had
photographs and intelligence on this company, identified as ES
Plastics located 3810 Fruitland Ave. in Maywood, California,
which he shared with us. We began surveillance of ES Plastics on
April 28 and quickly determined that Dairy and Coca Cola Crates
were being unloaded out of box vans. Due to the distance
involved our team could not initially decipher the names of
dairies on any of the crates but they did easily identify
numerous shrink-wrapped pallets of Coca Cola crates. This was an
extremely important finding as the law requires an identifiable
victim - in this case Coca-Cola - in order to proceed with
prosecution. I immediately contacted Jose Miramontes, Western
U.S. Director of Security for Coca-Cola and informed him of our
findings. Mr. Miramontes was very cooperative and offered his
assistance with the investigation. I then contacted the Maywood
Police Department who had initially offered to assist us in
obtaining a search warrant for ES Plastics. Unfortunately
however, the City of Maywood is very small and their police
resources are limited and it wasn’t until May 29 that we were
able to obtain their assistance. Because of the amount of time
that had passed we were mandated by the courts to renew our
observations and confirm that illegal activity was still
occurring at ES Plastics. On May 29, our surveillance team
observed an enclosed van unloading pallets of Milk and Coca Cola
crates inside the yard of ES Plastics. The CSC team immediately
returned to the local Magistrate and obtained a search warrant
for ES Plastics and for the home of the driver of the box van
observed delivering the stolen crates.
On May 31, as we were about to
serve the search warrant the same box van arrived delivering
more Dairy and Coca Cola crates. With the assistance of Sgt.
Scott Anderson of the Maywood Police Department we served the
search warrant on ES Plastics at 11:30am. The owner of ES
Plastics Alejandro (Alex) Bran and the driver of the box van,
unidentified at the time, were arrested and booked into jail for
multiple felony counts of grand theft, receiving stolen
property and possession of stolen property.
Description of the
Business
ES Plastics was not open to
the general public and was located in an industrial area. The
trucks that would arrive would pull up to solid steel gates that
were always closed. There was one small sign recently placed in
front of the company identifying it by name. When drivers would
arrive they would always call into the company on their cell
phone and an employee would open the gates. The property was
enclosed in such a manner that you could not see inside the yard
from any position. The yard and warehouse sat on ¾ of acre of
land with a large aluminum building housing three large grinders
and a ban saw for cutting up the plastic that operated 14 hours
a day, 7 days a week.
The owner had over a dozen
illegal Hispanics working in the yard and on the grinders. The
owner’s daughter, Evelyn Bran 23yrs of age also worked with her
father operating the business. Alex stated they purchased this
property two years ago. Our records indicate that they own
another warehouse in an adjacent city along with their personal
residence. The warehouse was inspected and found empty.
Second warehouse – 718 E. 61 St. Los Angeles CA 90001
Residence – 1419 W. Court Los Angeles CA. 90026
AKA’s Orlando A. Valencia – Orlando
Alexander Bran – Orlando V. Bran – Alex Bran
Records indicate: Alex Bran
started his business in 1995 in Scrap and Waste materials. He
has listed his company as NOT open to the public. In 2003 Alex
reported a sales volume that reached of $2.5 million.
Vehicles
Alex Bran and his wife own
three vehicles: 2006 Lexus SUV – 2006 Toyota Truck – 2000
International Tractor with a 40ft trailer - Forklifts, 3 each.
Statements
Initially, the owner and his
daughter stated that they would only buy crates that had been
damaged or broken up. However, after pointing out to them that
in the corner of the warehouse a large industrial size band saw
was located with stacks of milk crates that had recently been
cut into pieces. They decided to change their story. Alex
admitted he was aware of the laws governing beverage containers.
Both Alex and Evelyn began pointing out the thousand pound boxes
that contained Milk Crate remnants. All of the boxes (24 in
total) were mixed with Dairy, Coca Cola, Pepsi, and Seven-Up
crate remnants. The owner stated that he had recently sold
several thousand pound boxes of HDPE to material buyers that did
in fact come from crates. Alex Bran said he was selling the HDPE
for $0.27 cents per pound and more depending on the market. Alex
was asked how long have you been purchasing milk crates. Alex
stated as long as he has been in business, four or five years.
The employees were questioned
as to why the milk crates were unloaded from the trucks and
destroyed so quickly. They said their boss ordered them to
always grind up the crates first as soon as they arrive. This
was confirmed by the surveillance team.
Stored on the property
Approximately 300 large
cardboard boxes, each were containing various types of unknown
plastic material. 24 boxes were identified as having Milk, Coca
Cola, Pepsi and Seven-up shavings inside them. Over 24 thousand
pounds of crates had been ground up into shavings. Only 27 milk
crates were found intact along with a pallet of Coca Cola and
Seven –Up crates that were in the process of being ground up.
Hundreds of plastic pallets and containers were stacked outside
in the yard awaiting destruction that were manufactured by Ball
Corporation and sold to Pepsi and Coca Cola. Tens of thousands
of dollars worth of plastic pallets and containers were found on
the property but we were unable to confirm with the owners if in
fact the property was stolen from them vs. their vendors.
Victims Identified (Partial
List)
Ball Corporation –
Between $50,000 - $75,000 dollars in stolen plastic pallets.
This required the use of three
50 foot trailers. Ball Corp. supplies Pepsi and Coke with
plastic pallets and other products. (Contact person – Ryan
Brinkman)
Pepsi – Thirty large
plastic containers (4ft X 4ft) containing plastic Pepsi pallets
that had been cut into pieces awaiting the grinder. Each
container held approx. 8 to 10 pallets. Estimated loss $40,000
-$50,000. (Contact person - Chris Brossard)
Seven Up – 26 shells
located next to grinder however, 7-UP remnants were found in
over 20 of the thousand pound boxes that had been ground up.
Estimated loss in the thousands of dollars. (Contact person -
Pete Szabo)
Coca Cola – 50 shells
were located however, Coca Cola remnants were found in over 23
of the thousand pound boxes of ground up product. Estimated loss
- tens of thousands of dollars. (Contact person - Jose
Miramontes)
Milk Crates - Remnants
were found in 24 of the thousand pound boxes. Although, these
boxes were mixed with the remnants belonging to several
different victims it would be impossible to determine the value
that was lost by each victim. In the interest of justice the
24,000 pounds of mixed material was removed by Coca Cola and
stored for court purposes. 27 Milk Crates were found belonging
to Dean Foods, United Grocers, Rockview Farms and Santee
Dairy’s.
Estimated Loss – based on
suspect statements and materials located - tens of thousands of
dollars.
Second Search Warrant
The truck driver’s residence
was located on E. 42nd St. in East Los Angeles. The
home consisted of a two bedroom, one bath apartment. No evidence
was found. The driver was arrested and booked and the box van
was seized and impounded as evidence. (Inside the truck was a
stack of pallets belonging to the U.S. Postal Service –
Inspector Jarret Arrington was contacted)
Summary
In my thirty years of Police
service and having served over a thousand search warrants, I
have never witnessed or heard of a recover as large as this one.
This amount of stolen property required a total of four 50 ft
trailers to remove the property seized and it took over 12 hours
to complete the job. I personally believe that this seizure is
the largest of its kind in the nation having to do with the
theft and destruction of beverage containers by recyclers.
Media Attention
Once the size of the seizure
was identified the Chief of Police of Maywood responded to the
scene along with Channel 7 and Channel 4 news. The CSC team was
interviewed and we had the opportunity to explain the
significants of this seizure and the losses that the Dairy
Industry has been experiencing over the years. Both Channels
aired the interviews that evening. We were promised that we will
be sent a tape of the broadcast. Both news channels expressed
interest in the filming of the undercover sting operations.
CSC wishes to express our
appreciation to the below organizations:
CSC will be following up with
a letter of appreciation to the Maywood Police Dept. in regards
to the incredible amount of work Sgt. Scott Anderson put into
this case. Sgt Anderson was the lone officer who helped us in
the obtaining of the search warrant and was the only officer on
scene for the entire seizure. (Absent the Chiefs news
appearance) Normally, a seizure of this size would have required
six to ten officers to handle the interviewing, documentation,
seizing of property and photographing evidence.
Mr. Jose Miramontes (Director
of Security for Coca Cola) when consulted with the tactical
difficulties that ES Plastics presented, Jose immediately
offered the use of his surveillance officers that consisted of
retired law enforcement officers from the Los Angeles Sheriffs
Department to assist us in this case. Mr. Miramontes involvement
was critical in the case as this allowed the surveillance team
to obtain intelligence that would not have been revealed
otherwise. Mr. Miramontes also responded to the scene and
assisted in the identification of property and summoned the
necessary number of trucks in order to remove the large loads of
stolen property. CSC will forward a letter of appreciation to
Mr. McGrath (Corporate Security Director of Coca Cola, Atlanta
GA.)
Further Investigative
Follow-up
During this investigation
three other recycle companies have come to our attention that
presently are receiving stolen crates and twelve companies were
identified as being highly suspected of accepting milk crates.
As ES Plastics security procedures prevented the CSC team from
conducting a Sting Operation upon them, we are finding that the
serious offenders are being exceptional vigilant when it comes
to their security. CSC has had to change its methods when
confronted with a more sophisticated operation. Presently, we
have a commitment from Coca Cola that they will assist us in
providing personnel in these covert investigations. This will be
on a case by case basis.
Photography
CSC photographed and video
taped the entire operation and all evidence that was seized. I
will make these photos available to all of our dairy security
coordinators upon request.
What’s the Next Step?
CSC has information that our
next targets are even larger and more sophisticated operations.
Our plans are to begin surveillance immediately and at the same
time continue with our Sting Program in the Los Angeles area.
Eighty San Diego recyclers
have been sent our educational material via certified mail and
we will begin the interviewing process in two weeks. The Mexican
border investigation will be conducted simultaneously.
Evidence of Success
This seizure combined with our
eleven arrests in Santa Clara County last month while conducting
our Sting Operations is definitely a step in the right
direction. CSC is finding that the number of recyclers that were
not aware of the Beverage Container laws are certainly aware of
them now and the percentage of recyclers that previously would
accept beverage containers are increasingly less.
This document was prepared for
the purposes of informing our Dairy Industry of recent
developments. It is important that this report is not shared
with subjects outside the Dairy Industry as some of the
information in this report is confidential.
If you have any questions,
please contact me.
Respectfully,
Chuck Wall
Chief Executive Officer
Creative Security Company Inc.
P.I. 19008 PPO 13822
Office: 408. 295.2600
cwall@creativesecurity.com
www.creativesecurity.com
milkcrates@creativesecurity.com
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