News
Federal agents descended on a Kingston office building Tuesday, focusing on a massive mine-reclamation project in Hazleton using material dredged from the bottom of the Delaware River.
About 15 federal agents spent more than two hours removing boxes of documents from the Third Avenue headquarters of Fort Mifflin Reclamation Associates Inc. and Hazleton Creek Properties LLC in Luzerne County. The two companies are involved in a multimillion-dollar project to fill mines and landfills on a 277-acre site with soil dredged from the Delaware and develop the site with an amphitheater, restaurants and other businesses.
Fort Mifflin has been paid $38 million for transporting material dredged from the river since 2006 as part of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers deepening project. Hazleton Creek has an agreement with the city of Hazleton to reclaim the mining site and purchase it from a city agency for $3 million over the next five years.
In addition to the raid in Kingston on Tuesday, federal agents also visited a Dunmore businessman who has served as site manager at the Hazleton reclamation site.
Barry Bowen confirmed federal agents paid him a visit, but he declined to comment on where they visited him and whether they took any of his files.
The investigators, including agents from the U.S. Department of Defense and the FBI, removed more than 20 boxes - some of them clearly marked "Fort Mifflin" - from the office building at 580 Third Ave., Kingston. The agents referred all questions to an attorney from the antitrust division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Efforts to reach the attorney were unsuccessful Tuesday.
Efforts to reach Fort Mifflin Reclamation President William F. Rinaldi and company secretary Marvin L. Slomowitz for comment were also unsuccesful. Mr. Slomowitz is president and treasurer of Hazleton Creek Properties, according to state Corporation Bureau records. Both men are principals in Mark Development, a commercial development company also headquartered at the Third Avenue address.
Mark Development attorney Andrew Bigda said the company would have no comment.
The raid in Kingston began before noon Tuesday, with federal agents arriving in a fleet of cars and SUVs, many bearing license plates from Maryland, Massachusetts and New York. Some wore jackets identifying them as agents from the Defense Criminal Investigative Services, an arm of the Defense Department's office of inspector general. After the raid, one agent was seen leaving the building carrying a U.S. Army-issue bullet-proof vest.
Fort Mifflin Reclamation has received more than $38 million from the Army Corps of Engineers since 2006 for transporting and disposing of Delaware River dredging materials from storage areas at Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia, according to a federal contracts database.
The database lists the company as an "emerging small business" that has one employee and annual revenue of $621,000.
The initial Army contract, for $21 million, was awarded in September 2006, with Fort Mifflin Reclamation outbidding three other companies for the work, according to the database. The company added an additional $17 million through change orders and supplemental agreements for additional dredge disposal.
Companies controlled by Mr. Slomowitz and Mr. Rinaldi have completed several development projects across Luzerne County, including Walgreens drug stores in Dallas Township and Wilkes-Barre, shopping centers in Edwardsville and Pittston Twp. and student housing in Hazleton for Lackawanna College. All of the projects were built in Luzerne County.
Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, a key promoter of the reclamation/amphitheater project, recruited Mr. Slomowitz and Mr. Rinaldi to be the developers.
"Bill Rinaldi has experience in the entertainment field. He thought it was a great idea," Mr. Barletta said Tuesday.
He said he had not spoken to either man about Tuesday's raid.
"I was just as surprised as everyone else," Mr. Barletta said.
Denise Allabaugh, Kent Jackson, Borys Krawczeniuk and Michael R. Sisak, staff writers, contributed to this report.
About 15 federal agents spent more than two hours removing boxes of documents from the Third Avenue headquarters of Fort Mifflin Reclamation Associates Inc. and Hazleton Creek Properties LLC in Luzerne County. The two companies are involved in a multimillion-dollar project to fill mines and landfills on a 277-acre site with soil dredged from the Delaware and develop the site with an amphitheater, restaurants and other businesses.
Fort Mifflin has been paid $38 million for transporting material dredged from the river since 2006 as part of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers deepening project. Hazleton Creek has an agreement with the city of Hazleton to reclaim the mining site and purchase it from a city agency for $3 million over the next five years.
In addition to the raid in Kingston on Tuesday, federal agents also visited a Dunmore businessman who has served as site manager at the Hazleton reclamation site.
Barry Bowen confirmed federal agents paid him a visit, but he declined to comment on where they visited him and whether they took any of his files.
The investigators, including agents from the U.S. Department of Defense and the FBI, removed more than 20 boxes - some of them clearly marked "Fort Mifflin" - from the office building at 580 Third Ave., Kingston. The agents referred all questions to an attorney from the antitrust division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Efforts to reach the attorney were unsuccessful Tuesday.
Efforts to reach Fort Mifflin Reclamation President William F. Rinaldi and company secretary Marvin L. Slomowitz for comment were also unsuccesful. Mr. Slomowitz is president and treasurer of Hazleton Creek Properties, according to state Corporation Bureau records. Both men are principals in Mark Development, a commercial development company also headquartered at the Third Avenue address.
Mark Development attorney Andrew Bigda said the company would have no comment.
The raid in Kingston began before noon Tuesday, with federal agents arriving in a fleet of cars and SUVs, many bearing license plates from Maryland, Massachusetts and New York. Some wore jackets identifying them as agents from the Defense Criminal Investigative Services, an arm of the Defense Department's office of inspector general. After the raid, one agent was seen leaving the building carrying a U.S. Army-issue bullet-proof vest.
Fort Mifflin Reclamation has received more than $38 million from the Army Corps of Engineers since 2006 for transporting and disposing of Delaware River dredging materials from storage areas at Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia, according to a federal contracts database.
The database lists the company as an "emerging small business" that has one employee and annual revenue of $621,000.
The initial Army contract, for $21 million, was awarded in September 2006, with Fort Mifflin Reclamation outbidding three other companies for the work, according to the database. The company added an additional $17 million through change orders and supplemental agreements for additional dredge disposal.
Companies controlled by Mr. Slomowitz and Mr. Rinaldi have completed several development projects across Luzerne County, including Walgreens drug stores in Dallas Township and Wilkes-Barre, shopping centers in Edwardsville and Pittston Twp. and student housing in Hazleton for Lackawanna College. All of the projects were built in Luzerne County.
Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, a key promoter of the reclamation/amphitheater project, recruited Mr. Slomowitz and Mr. Rinaldi to be the developers.
"Bill Rinaldi has experience in the entertainment field. He thought it was a great idea," Mr. Barletta said Tuesday.
He said he had not spoken to either man about Tuesday's raid.
"I was just as surprised as everyone else," Mr. Barletta said.
Denise Allabaugh, Kent Jackson, Borys Krawczeniuk and Michael R. Sisak, staff writers, contributed to this report.
