Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Silver State hit by indictments

The Justice Department is accusing Silver State Disposal Service of tax fraud and seeking to raise garbage rates based on false financial information.

The garbage company, which has a virtual monopoly on trash collection in the Las Vegas Valley, was hit Tuesday with a 26-count indictment that details 10 years of alleged tax fraud dating to 1984.

A special federal grand jury also accused Silver State's four top officers and three supervisors of criminal tax violations.

U.S. Magistrate Lawrence Leavitt ordered the seven men to appear in court April 19 for arraignment. They are expected to plead not guilty, Silver State attorney John Moran Jr. said.

Indicted Silver State President Joe Anstett said in a news release that the company will restore the reputation it has earned by providing "40 years of impeccable service."

Also charged are Vice President of Operations Richard Isola, Vice President of Marketing Thomas Isola, corporate officer Aldo Lipetti, welding section Manager Craig Carstensen, general operations section Manager Carl Carlton and Foreman Frank Meccariello.

The Internal Revenue Service, which investigated the case, says it has evidence that Silver State had a scheme to raise Southern Nevadans' garbage rates based on false financial information.

Silver State has exclusive contracts to haul trash in Clark County, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Las Vegas. Roughly every four years, the garbage company received a rate increase based, in part, on its expenses.

The IRS has accused Silver State of including in its expenses personal purchases made by top officers and employees, among them the remodeling of five homes, a barn and a horse ranch.

The 32-page indictment is unusual in that it does not specify the amount of money Silver State or its employees are accused of withholding in taxes. However, it includes a three-page list totaling $175,600 worth of personal items allegedly paid for by the company.

A Silver State spokesman said last month that the IRS investigation began about three years ago and centers on a disputed $450,000. And its attorney dismissed the grand jury findings.

"It's illogical to think that these men, who have paid tens of millions of dollars in taxes during the period in question and who represent three generations of Nevada families, would jeopardize their reputations, their company ... for a small fraction of what they have paid every year in taxes," Moran said.

Justice Department prosecutors say they can prove that Silver State officials made the personal purchases with the help of Steel Engineers Corp. and P&S Metals Co., both Las Vegas companies.

At the request of Silver State, the companies allegedly bought the personal items and then falsely billed the garbage company.

For example, in 1989 Richard Isola is accused of telling his employees to buy a Jet Ski for him using company funds. The government contends that the jet ski was purchased by Steel Engineers and billed to Silver State as "steel."

The vice president is accused of buying a $2,400 refrigerator with company money and using employees to help improve his vacation house along the Rogue River in Medford, Ore., and his son's house on Mount Charleston.

As a result of this alleged action and others, Richard Isola is charged with conspiring to defraud the IRS and three counts of filing false personal income tax returns in 1989, 1990 and 1992. He is accused of making more money than he reported.

During the same time, Anstett is accused of using employees and company material to remodel a family member's apartment and Thomas Isola is charged with using workers to improve his Arabian horse ranch and remodel his home.

Lipetti, Meccariello, Carlton and Carstensen are accused of similar uses of company employees and equipment without reporting it as income.

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