- Office of the Inspector General
Media Contact for Westport Trash Hauler Sentenced for Defrauding Fall River Landfill
Jack Meyers
BOSTON — The co-owner of a Westport-based trash hauling company was sentenced on September 5 to federal prison for defrauding the operator of the Fall River Landfill out of more than $460,000.
Stephen P. Aguiar, Jr., 47, of Westport, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to serve one year and one day in federal prison. Judge Saylor also sentenced Mr. Aguiar to two years of supervised release and ordered him to pay restitution in the amount of $463,407.
Mr. Aguiar is one of the owners and operators of Cleanway Disposal & Recycling, Inc., a trash removal and recycling company, and JS Aguiar Enterprises, Inc., a construction and equipment rental property. Under Mr. Aguiar’s contracts with the company operating the Fall River Landfill, he paid different rates to dispose of trash at the landfill depending on where the trash originated. Mr. Aguiar paid one rate to dump trash collected from his private clients located in Fall River and a higher rate to dispose of trash collected from his private clients located outside of Fall River. Mr. Aguiar also had a contract to collect trash from the Fall River Housing Authority (FRHA) and dispose of the trash at the city’s landfill. The company operating the landfill allowed the City of Fall River to dispose of trash collected from the FRHA at no charge.
Mr. Aguiar admitted that between 2009 and 2014, he misrepresented the source of a significant portion of the trash he disposed of at the landfill, claiming that the trash was from the FRHA when it was actually from his private clients. Mr. Aguiar’s misrepresentations allowed him to avoid paying a fee to deposit his private clients’ trash at the Fall River Landfill, thereby defrauding the landfill of approximately $463,000 in revenue.
In April 2017, Mr. Aguiar pleaded guilty to three counts of mail fraud after a joint investigation by the Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of the Inspector General. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office.
For additional information about Aguiar’s sentencing, see the U.S. Attorney’s Office's press release at: Co-Owner of Trash Company Sentenced for Fraud.