AUGUSTA - A grand jury indicted the president of the city's primary garbage company Tuesday in Richmond County Superior Court. <br>
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CSRA Waste Inc. was ripping off Augusta as far back as 1997, long before it became the city's top garbage hauler, according to the indictment. <br>
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Kester Uzochukwu, who headed the company, was emptying trash bins for the city in 1997, allowing workers to take loads to the Deans Bridge Road landfill free of charge. The indictment said Uzochukwu used his Richmond County landfill exemption to avoid tipping fees by passing off private trash as the city's from Feb. 3, 1997, to Nov. 16, 2001 three days before his arrest. <br>
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He was indicted Tuesday on one count of felony theft of services. If convicted, Uzochukwu would face up to 10 years in prison or on probation. <br>
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``We ought to hold Mr. Uzochukwu's bond company (which insures the city against breaches of contract) responsible for the revenue we've lost,'' Mayor Bob Young said. <br>
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District Attorney Danny Craig would not say how much money is estimated to have been lost in landfill fees. <br>
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``Mr. Uzochukwu denies the charges. We regret that the district attorney saw fit to go forward,'' said Edward Tarver, CSRA Waste's attorney. <br>
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The Augusta Chronicle reviewed landfill records for several months and found CSRA Waste was dumping front-end loader trucks containing private garbage in city landfills. The newspaper also reported that CSRA Waste workers were dumping recyclables in with household trash, a violation of CSRA's city contract.
