Trash Hauler Seeking Local Routes Is Probed

Western Waste Industries, the garbage hauler trying to take over all of eastern Ventura County’s routes, is the target of a federal political corruption probe, its parent company admitted Tuesday.

The revelation in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing only reinforces Thousand Oaks’ efforts to keep a bankruptcy court from transferring the city’s contracts to the trash hauler, city officials said.

“Obviously, we’re concerned about this,” City Atty. Mark Sellers said. “We’re well aware that Western Waste has had its share of problems, and the same people involved in some of those incidents are still with the company. That’s the main reason we have opposed the transfer, and will continue to oppose it.”

The city is fighting a decision by U. S. Bankruptcy Judge Robin Riblet to permit the transfer as part of an agreement that allows Western Waste to assume a controlling interest in financially troubled G. I. Industries, Ventura County’s second-largest trash hauler.

Simi Valley, Moorpark and Ventura County officials have agreed to allow Western Waste to take over their garbage contracts, but Thousand Oaks is going to court Jan. 28 in an effort to block the move.

“We have tried so hard in Thousand Oaks to keep trash hauling local,” Mayor Judy Lazar said. “The reason for that is that trash hauling has historically been a problem area for cities and, frankly, we don’t want that sort of element in our town.”

In a disclosure to the SEC, USA Waste Services of Houston revealed that FBI agents have served subpoenas for Western Waste documents dating back to 1990.

Some of the subpoenas seek records kept by top company executives, including Western Waste Chairman Kosti Shirvanian, according to sources familiar with the case.

Western Waste, based in Torrance, has exclusive contracts to pick up garbage in close to 90 municipalities throughout the state. Most of its operations are in Southern California.

FBI agents are looking into allegations that the company systematically bribed elected officeholders to win some of those lucrative franchises.

Although the probe has been widely known for many months, this is the first time that anyone associated with the company has acknowledged that Western Waste is a target.

In law enforcement lexicon, a target is someone whose indictment is considered likely or imminent.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Daniel J. O’Brien, who is overseeing the Western Waste investigation, said he was unaware of the SEC filing and declined all comment.

The company has retained as legal counsel Brian J. Hennigan, a former federal prosecutor who specializes in white-collar criminal defense at the Century City law firm of Irell & Manella.

Hennigan declined to discuss the scope of the investigation, but said USA Waste was cooperating fully with the U. S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.

Lazar agreed, saying the continued probes into possible political corruption involving Western Waste illustrate Thousand Oaks’ reasons for fighting the transfer of its trash-hauling contracts to the firm.

“That bad reputation has preceded them,” she said. “That reputation, in part, colored our view of them. I don’t know what they [federal investigators] are looking for, but it sounds like more of the same.”

Moorpark, which is also served by Simi Valley-based G. I. Industries, voted in November to allow the transfer of its trash-hauling contracts to Western Waste, but only after adding language to the contract that would help ensure that the city would be protected as much as possible from Western Waste.

Mayor Pat Hunter said he was concerned about the transfer then, and is even more concerned now that federal investigators are looking into Western Waste.

“This entire process has caused me concern from the start,” he said. “The city of Moorpark did a considerable amount of research into this before approving the transfer, and we made some amendments to protect the city.

“The city will continue to monitor this situation,” Hunter added. “We’re concerned about what kind of businesses do business with Moorpark and, also, what kind of businesses do business in Moorpark.”

The Western Waste probe grew out of the FBI’s four-year investigation of political corruption in Compton, which resulted in the convictions of Rep. Walter R. Tucker III (D-Compton) and former Compton City Councilwoman Patricia Moore on extortion and income tax fraud charges.

After learning that she was under investigation in 1994, Moore went to the U. S. attorney’s office and negotiated a deal.

In return for leniency, she agreed to cooperate with the FBI. During a lengthy debriefing by federal agents, Moore reportedly confessed to receiving payoffs of $500 to $1,000 a month from George Osepian, a Western Waste executive, with the knowledge of Shirvanian and his sister, Savey Tufenkian, who served as Western Waste’s secretary-treasurer.

The former councilwoman also told federal agents of other politicians on the take, but that information was sealed by the prosecution before the trial and has not been disclosed.

After five months as an undercover operative, during which time she wore a hidden body microphone in meetings with Shirvanian and Osepian, Moore had a change of heart and pulled out of the deal, claiming that she was poorly advised by her lawyers.

She was subsequently indicted and convicted of extorting payoffs from two other Compton firms. She will be sentenced in March.

After the trial, the FBI reactivated its investigation of Western Waste, focusing on Riverside County, where the Board of Supervisors had given preliminary approval for Western Waste to vastly expand El Sobrante, its only dump site in Southern California.

A federal grand jury subpoenaed personal financial records as well as office documents belonging to all five members of the Board of Supervisors, the county’s chief administrative officer and other county executives.

When the FBI’s activities became known, the board reversed itself and voted to postpone final action on the dump site until the federal investigation concludes.

Western Waste, which was bought by USA Waste Services last year for $525 million, needs the expansion to maintain its competitive edge against rivals Browning-Ferris Industries and WMX Corp.