Illegal pine barrens dumping charged in 2 cases 

Suffolk County and Brookhaven Town officials on Tuesday announced the arrests of two people in separate cases involving alleged illegal dumping in and near the pine barrens, Long Island’s most significant wilderness.

"It’s lazy, it’s illegal and it’s harmful to our environment and to our Island’s natural resources," Suffolk Sheriff Errol D. Toulon Jr. said at a news conference in Yaphank scheduled to coincide with Earth Day, a holiday that celebrates environmental protection.

The pine barrens contains more than 900 square miles in Brookhaven, Riverhead and Southampton towns, much of it preserved.

In one case highlighted at Tuesday's news conference, the Port Jefferson owner of a construction company was charged with felony criminal mischief for allegedly dumping 24 tons of concrete in a remote wooded area off Long Island Avenue in Yaphank, just outside the barrens. 

Joao Abreu, owner of Farmingville-based Chase Construction Enterprises, was arrested after a six-week investigation by the Suffolk Sheriff's  Office Criminal Investigations Bureau and the Suffolk District Attorney’s BEAST Unit, which works on biological, environmental and animal safety cases, authorities said. The dumping took place Feb. 23, according to court records.

Abreu, who pleaded not guilty at an April 11 arraignment before Judge John Zollo in Suffolk First District Court, faces up to 7 years in prison if convicted, as well as other pending charges that could result in up to $150,000 in fines, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office. Investigators also learned he had 27 license suspensions and did not hold a valid commercial driving license.

Authorities seized his truck, which they said was used in the dumping and had 19 safety violations. 

A lawyer for Abreu, Central Islip-based James D’Angelo, said in a phone interview that Abreu was "a hardworking family man ... I’m going to defend him in court."

D’Angelo declined to comment on evidence that authorities said led to Abreu’s arrest because he had not seen it. Authorities have said that evidence includes information from license plate checks, vehicle tracking, background checks and witness interviews. Toulon's office has also circulated what they said was trail camera footage showing a large orange truck dumping debris at the Yaphank site. They allege Abreu was at the wheel. 

In the second case, authorities announced the arrest of a Riverhead woman, Jeanne Rodriguez, after a trail camera showed a U-Haul truck illegally dumping household items including mattresses, box springs, dressers and a television in a secluded area of the pine barrens in Manorville. The dumping took place March 13, according to court records.

Rodriguez was charged with second-degree criminal mischief, a felony, as well as violations of dumping laws, authorities said.

Rodriguez pleaded not guilty at an April 3 arraignment before Judge Alonzo Jacobs in Suffolk First District Court. She is represented by Suffolk County Legal Aid, which did not comment on the case.

In a phone interview, Nina Leonhardt, acting executive director of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, a nonprofit that promotes preservation of the area, called dumping "a major concern." Solid material can be a fire hazard and chemicals in anything that is dumped can percolate through the ground to contaminate the aquifer below, poisoning Long Island's drinking water, she said.

Tim Motz, a spokesman for the Pine Barrens Commission, which oversees land use and enforcement in the barrens, said there had been 76 dumping, clearing and encroachment incidents so far this year, up from 60 at this point last year, when there were 182 total incidents. Motz said the Yaphank concrete dumping was "particularly big." 

Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine, the former Brookhaven Town supervisor, said the arrests pointed to the need for a regional solid waste disposal plan as the town's landfill nears capacity.

"We’re well past the time that this plan should have been put in place," he said. "I’m challenging the (state Department of Environmental Conservation) and government to come up with a plan for solid waste so we don’t have to deal with this."

Town officials have warned that closure of Brookhaven landfill, a 50-year-old waste repository for the town and surrounding communities, will spur more illegal dumping because it will increase the cost of legal disposal. The landfill, expected to close by 2028, stopped taking debris from construction sites in December and now accepts only incinerated trash and automobile parts. Much of Long Island's construction waste now goes to a privately owned facility in Melville. 

In an email, a spokesman for the DEC said the agency "will continue to assist local governments statewide with their obligations to develop effective solid waste management plans for their localities, provide technical support, and enforce New York’s stringent laws against illegal dumping."

Brookhaven charges $200 per ton for commercial disposal of household waste and $200 per ton for construction debris. 

Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico said the furniture dumped in Manorville could have been picked up by the town’s residential garbage collection.

"These are crimes of greed, crimes of stupidity," he said.