Press Release  Father and Son Charged with Operating Illegal Solid Waste and Hazardous Waste Facilities in Oxford and Worcester

Boston — A father and son from Charlton have been indicted in connection with operating illegal waste facilities in Worcester and Oxford, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today.

“We allege that these defendants ignored laws put in place to protect the environment and the health of the public by allowing hazardous waste to be illegally stored and disposed of at their facilities,” said AG Healey. “Improperly handling these materials can have serious environmental and public health consequences and our office will vigorously prosecute those who fail to comply with environmental laws and safety requirements.”

Ron Bussiere, age 67, his son Curt Bussiere, age 43, and Patriots Environmental Corporation were indicted today by a Worcester Superior Court Grand Jury on charges of Operating/Maintaining a Solid Waste Facility without Obtaining the Required Regulatory Approvals (four counts), Criminal Contempt (two counts), and Maintaining a Hazardous Waste Facility without the Required License from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) (one count).

Ron Bussiere is the president of the Oxford-based Patriots Environmental Corporation (Patriots Environmental) and Curt Bussiere is the senior manager of the company, which is primarily involved in asbestos abatement and construction demolition projects in Massachusetts. 

Both defendants will be arraigned in Worcester Superior Court at a later date.

“MassDEP will investigate those cases that involve intentional misconduct resulting in serious threat or harm to the environment and the public health,” said MassDEP Commissioner Martin Suuberg. “In particular, MassDEP’s Environmental Strike Force (ESF) will look closely at businesses that put unsuspecting workers and the public at-large, at risk due to exposure to uncontained and improperly managed asbestos-containing materials.”

The AG’s Environmental Crimes Strike Force began an investigation into Patriots Environmental in December 2013 after MassDEP received a tip alleging numerous environmental violations at the company’s Oxford and Worcester facilities. The Strike Force obtained and executed search warrants at both facilities and confirmed many of the environmental concerns. The Environmental Crimes Strike Force is comprised of  prosecutors from the Attorney General’s Office,  Massachusetts Environmental Police Detectives assigned to the AG’s Office, and attorneys, investigators and engineers from MassDEP who investigate and prosecute crimes that harm or threaten the state’s water, air, or land and that pose a significant threat to human health.

Authorities allege that Ron and Curt Bussiere did not have the required state approvals when they allowed asbestos-containing waste material to be stored at the Worcester facility and allowed construction and demolition waste to be stored and disposed of at both facilities. Authorities also allege that the defendants allowed hazardous waste oil to be stored at the Oxford facility without the required license.

The investigation also revealed that, at the time these alleged violations occurred, Patriots Environmental, and by extension the Bussieres, were under a 2006 Suffolk Superior Court order, obtained by the AG’s Environmental Protection Division, requiring them to handle asbestos-containing components in compliance with federal, state, and local laws and to refrain from bringing construction and demolition debris to its Worcester facility, unless it had obtained written authorization from MassDEP or did so in compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws.

All of these charges are allegations and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

In March 2016, the AG’s Office announced that Patriots Environmental and its three affiliated companies – Patriots Realty LLC, Demo Realty Co Inc., and CRB Demolition Co. – paid $129,000 to settle a lawsuit originally brought by the AG’s Office in July 2014 alleging that the company failed to follow proper procedures while removing asbestos-containing materials from a home in Sturbridge and for failing to pay a $54,714 penalty assessed by MassDEP for asbestos and hazardous waste violations.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Sara Shannon through AG Healey’s Environmental Crimes Strike Force. This case was investigated by the Massachusetts Environmental Police with assistance from MassDEP investigators Jen Macionus, Greg Levin, Don Heeley, Nick Child and Gary Dulmaine and ESF Director Pamela Talbot.

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