Developer Daniel Desler pled guilty on Monday to releasing asbestos into a residential neighborhood near his saw mill in Sweet Home.

He will spend five months confined to his house and be on probation for the next five years. He must also complete 300 hours of community service.

Desler, 67, was charged with negligent endangerment under the Clean Air Act. Federal attorneys accused him of recklessly releasing asbestos into the air when demolishing a building at the saw mill. They said he also allowed an unlicensed contractor to do the demolition and renovation work without meeting federal regulations for asbestos.

“The community was put at risk and substantial resources were expended to clean up the area,” said U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall said a sentencing recommendation to the court.

The case was investigated by the Oregon State Police, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy E. Potter and Special Assistant United States Attorney Patrick Flanagan of the Oregon Department of Justice.

The post Developer pleads guilty to releasing asbestos into Sweet Home neighborhood appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Police have recovered a trailer stolen from a construction site in Eugene over the weekend.

According to police reports, thieves broke through a locked fence where a new medical building for the Lane Pregnancy Support Center – a nonprofit agency opposed to abortion – is under construction at East 11th Avenue and Ferry Street. The theft occurred sometime between Oct. 19 and 22.

The trailer belongs to Renew To Sell of Eugene, the contractor on the project, and contained $10,000 worth of construction equipment. Eugene police reported recovering the stolen trailer Oct. 28. The stolen construction equipment was not found.

This is the second time the site has been hit by thieves this month, according to police. Three weeks ago, thieves raided the existing center and stole a computer and office equipment. Police estimate the total value of all the stolen items at $15,000.

The agency offers information and medical care to women who unexpectedly become pregnant and offer alternatives to abortion. Executive Director Bev Anderson said her agency operates on a shoestring budget and depends almost entirely on donations.

The post Police recover stolen construction trailer in Eugene appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

A Washington developer is going to prison for stormwater pollution.

On Wednesday, the U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Wash., sentenced 65-year-old Bryan Stowe, the president and co-owner of Stowe Construction, Inc. to six months in prison and fined him $750,000 for knowingly violating the conditions of a permit to control stormwater runoff at a business park project in Sumner, Wash. The violations resulted in significant environmental damage, including increased sedimentation in the White River and a neighboring wetlands restoration project, and resulted in two landslides that caused the closure of the West Valley Highway.

Tyler Amon, a special agent in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division in the Northwest, said in a statement that the EPA and the Washington Department of Ecology wanted the criminal case to send a message to developers that “Serious environmental crimes will be vigorously pursued.”

Stowe’s company reportedly falsified weekly site inspection reports to fool regulators. The felony violation of the Clean Water Act earned Stowe a $300,000 fine for knowingly violating the permit and a $350,000 criminal fine. He will also pay $100,000 to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to fix environmental resources impacted by the illegal discharge.

Stowe obtained the permit in 2006, and his sentence was a result of actions taken from 2007 to 2011 at the Rainier Park of Industry project.

The post Washington Developer gets 6 months in prison for stormwater violations appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Over the past couple of months, I’ve noticed more publications trying to take on the topic of whether MAX trains generate crime. And every time I read a piece on the issue, I say the same thing: Man, this is a tough one.

That’s because, despite what any TriMet official or critic of the Portland-Milwaukie light-rail project says, proving whether this is true is very diffcult; several variables are involved.

Earlier this year, I tried to take the issue on myself. And after talking to a variety of public information officers from a variety of different bureaus within the cities of Portland, Beaverton and Hillsboro, this is what I found out:

• When MAX lines were first put into Beaverton and Hillsboro, crime actually fell overall in the cities.
• Major transit centers, like the Beaverton Transit Center, do have a pretty high level of crime.
• Train lines that run through high-crime neighborhoods tend to have more crime than other lines.

Of course, even these facts are a little shaky. Crime fell in Beaverton and Hillsboro when the lines were put in, but the decrease wasn’t by much and a number of other factors could have played a role. Also, major transit centers do have a pretty high level of crime, but most high-density commercial and residential areas – where the transit centers are located – have high levels of crime. That lines in higher-crime neighborhoods have more crime is also pretty predictable.

The most difficult part of the issue is determining how crime should be measured – should it be gauged by how many crimes occur on the trains? How many occur at the stations? How many occur within the cities? If city-wide crime is measured, how is it tied to crime on MAX trains?

In my opinion, measuring how much crime occurs on the trains and the stations doesn’t add much to the discussion; as I said, whenever you have a lot of people together, there’s always going to be some crime. And, in this case, crime in the stations and trains is not that significant compared to other high-density areas. So to me the issue is finding a way to connect crime within the city to the trains – anyone have any ideas on how to measure that?

The post The problem with gauging crime on MAX appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Construction industry professionals gathered at Multnomah Athletic Club on Wednesday to pay tribute to individuals and companies that help keep jobsites safe from vandalism and theft.

The created the awards as a way to thank local law enforcement agencies and officers that go beyond the norm to help construction companies and project owners in the Pacific Northwest prevent and remedy workplace crime.

Honored with the CICP Law Enforcement Award were Scott Chamberlain, a detective with the Portland Police Bureau, and Earleen Reimann of the Hillsboro police department.

A team effort to recover metal weights stolen from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers garnered the CICP Law Enforcement Partner Award for Jason Kim and Ethan Kenfield of , Christian Lyle and Steven Rasmussen, deputies from the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office; and Curtis Chinn, an officer from the Portland Police Bureau.

stepped forward to receive the Padlock Award, given to a CICP member, company or group that demonstrated courage and ingenuity in prevention of a specific crime against the industry. Steps taken by Wildish, including clearly marking trucks and equipment, played a key role in the recovery of a tractor trailer and van filled with tools that were stolen from a jobsite where the company was working.

The post Construction crime prevention awards honor law enforcement officers appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Oregon construction leaders and state legislators worked hard to develop and then fine-tune a scrap-metal recycling law they hoped would minimize construction site metal-theft problems that had reached epidemic proportions. Has it accomplished its intended goals?

Law enforcement officers, district attorneys and metal recyclers will weigh in as part of a daylong workshop presented by the . The workshop also will feature an afternoon session on the National Equipment Register.

The workshop is free for CICPP members and law enforcement officers; all others will be charged $50.

When: Thursday, from 9:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.

Where: Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 290, 20210 S.W. Teton Ave. in Tualatin

For more information, contact CICPP Executive Director Karen Blythe at 503-618-8871 or email her at cicp@comcast.net.

The post Has your metal been stolen? Come to this workshop appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Competition between union and nonunion companies has long existed in the construction industry. But with more hands grabbing for fewer contracts, some open-shop firms say the battle has become downright nasty.

Nonunion contractors say they are accustomed to unions‘ claims that the wages they pay are too low. But lately, those contractors say, union representatives’ behavior often feels invasive and intimating. Union representatives rebut the allegations, and counter that their actions are completely legal.

Nevertheless, the nonunion firms say, they want the unions to stop using tactics such as following employees and sitting outside their homes.

“The past couple years (the unions have) intensified their efforts,” said Cal Carlson, operating manager for Columbia Drywall, a nonunion firm based in Portland. “They didn’t need to hassle us three years ago because they didn’t need our jobs.”

Carlson said unions formerly targeted his companies by sending representatives to hold up banners outside jobsites. Most of those banners accused Carlson of paying wages below the standard for the area.

These days, though, union representatives have set aside their signs, Carlson said, and instead follow him and his employees when they drive company vehicles. On some occasions, when Columbia Drywall employees go to their homes, they’re followed by union representatives, who then sit and wait in their parked cars. Carlson said that when he has tried to confront the people sitting in vehicles outside his house, they pull out cameras and try to document the confrontations.

Eric Franklin, a spokesman with the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters, said his union will follow work vehicles of nonunion firms in order to discover other jobsites that they’re working on or may work on. In some instances, he said, that requires following the work vehicles to employees’ homes and waiting for them to leave and possibly travel to another job site.

The approach isn’t intimidation, Franklin said, but rather activity permitted by federal law under the National Labor Relations Act.

“If they don’t like it, we’re sorry, but it’s our right,” Franklin said. “I can promise you that we’re not harassing them, and definitely not harassing their friends or family.”

To prove that point, Franklin said union representatives who employ the follow-and-park tactic carry a form letter that explains the unions’ rights as follows:

“In order to exercise this federal ambulatory picketing right, the union must locate employer jobsites. Unless the employer cooperates and provides the union with current, verifiable information on jobsite locations, the most reliable means of determining these jobsites and potential jobsites is to follow the employer’s supervisors and employees. The monitoring activity is part of a parcel of the right to engage in ambulatory picketing and is not a violation of any stalking laws.”

Rich Meneghello, an employment lawyer and managing partner with Fisher & Phillips, said cases focusing on issues concerning unions’ rights to engage in tactics such as picketing and drive-and-park are not black-and-white. Instead, they tend to be judged on a case-by-case basis.

“I will say that just because a union official has a letter that references a federal law, doesn’t give them the right to do anything they want,” Meneghello said. “But at the same time, in my experience, these union folks are the best at getting right up to the legal-illegal line and not crossing it.”

Franklin stressed that the intent of his union’s picketing and drive-and-park tactics is only to gather information and never to harass, but Tina Slogowski isn’t convinced.

Slogowski, a co-owner of Newberg-based merit-shop K2MG Interiors, said both she and her employees, including some in their early 20s, often feel intimidated when being followed by union representatives.

“It’s not only intimidating; it’s spooky,” she said. “I don’t want my employees to have to worry about people watching them and their families.”

Unions have a wide gray area regarding steps they can take under the NRLA if they feel contractors have not provided accurate information about project sites, Meneghello said. But those steps, including following company employees, must be done in a reasonable manner.

“It’s not like a fishing trip – you can’t just drop a bunch of lines and see what happens,” he said. “Plus, you can’t be harassing family members, like shining a light on a window to a room where the children are playing.”

Nonunion companies can file harassment or loitering complaints against unions if they feel that the law has been violated, Meneghello said. But barring that option, contractors say they’ve been able to find some satisfaction.

Carlson of Columbia Drywall said he once blocked a union representative in a vehicle in an intersection. The vehicle’s driver was following Carson and one of his employees, who were each driving company vehicles. The employee was able to drive away while Carson kept the driver of the trapped vehicle at bay.

“We’ve had some pretty scary situations on the road a few times trying to get away from them,” he said.

Marc Dollahite, owner of Paragon Tile & Stone, said his open-shop company has dealt with aggressive union tactics for years. On a few occasions, Dollahite said he has paid his employees to drive around randomly for a few hours, while being tailed by union representatives.

More recently, however, Dollahite has found that a better solution is to simply hold his ground.

“The bottom line is they want you to go out of business,” he said.

John Killin, president of the Pacific Northwest chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors, said he would like to see a sweeping end to what he calls an “intimidation tactic.”

“We need to figure out a way to not put private homes and personal lives on the marks,” he said. “It’s time to put an immediate stop to these senseless acts of intimidation.”

The post Open-shop contractors complain of union intimidation appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

A Hillsboro contractor has been sentenced to 30 days in jail and has to pay $300,000 for a range of convictions, including the state’s first criminal prosecution for antitrust violations.

Stephen Nagy, owner of S&S Drywall, pleaded guilty to a host of charges – criminal antitrust, racketeering and felon in possession of a firearm – on Friday morning stemming from allegations that he rigged the bid process for a $1.2 million drywall bid on a $24 million condominium project in Portland’s Pearl District.

Nagy paid kickbacks totaling about $10,000 to a project manager who was working on the project, according to Kate Medema, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Justice. The project manager then helped Nagy structure a bid that guaranteed he would be the lowest bidder and would avoid an expensive bond requirement that other contractors couldn’t, Medema said. The project manager wasn’t charged because he was considered a drifter in poor financial shape.

Besides the bid rigging, Nagy’s charges focus on a scheme to fraudulently induce the Oregon Employment Department to issue unemployment benefits to S&S Drywall employees. He also pleaded guilty to forcing workers on prevailing wage jobs to return large percentages of their paychecks to him.

Moreover, when the state raided Nagy’s residence they found and seized more than 20 powerful, high-end firearms. As a convicted felon, Nagy is prohibited from possessing any firearms.

Besides the jail sentence and forgoing the money – $50,000 in cash and $250,000 in assets – Nagy has been stripped of his Oregon Construction Contractors Board license and cannot reapply for 20 years. He’s also prohibited from working for any family operated business within the next 20-years and may not seek employment in the construction industry unless he discloses these convictions to future employers.

Additionally, Nagy must repay state agencies defrauded by his illegal activity, including the Employment Department, which he currently owes in excess of $100,000, a figure that is expect to rise.

“The Department of Justice is committed to investigating and prosecuting complex racketeering and antitrust schemes that disrupt fair competition in Oregon’s marketplace and rip off state agencies,” said Attorney General John Kroger in a statement on the 18-month investigation.

The post Hillsboro contractor pleads guilty to bid rigging appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

A West Linn-based realtor and prominent mixed martial arts fighter was fined $10,000 and was given 24 months probation on Friday due to a Jan. 3 money laundering conviction.

Chael Sonnen, a repeat fighter in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and one-time candidate for state representative, admitted to submitting false paperwork as part of a financial transaction that provided an unlawful $65,000 kickback to the purchasers of a Portland home. As part of a plea deal and cooperating with Internal Revenue Service criminal investigators, Sonnen pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering and voluntarily forfeited his Oregon real estate license.

The plea deal resolved potential charges arising from five additional transactions and the possibility of receiving the maximum sentence, up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

According to a release from the office of Dwight Holton, U.S. Attorney for the district of Oregon, the scheme also involved employees of the Vancouver-based Crown Point Enterprises, dba Lighthouse Financial Group. Working with Crown Point employees Joel Rosabal and Chadwick Amsden, Sonnen used $69,000 from the loan that was intended for plumbing repairs as a cash incentive kickback to entice the home buyer into purchasing. Both the Crown Point employees and Sonnen knowingly falsified paperwork and withheld information in order to collect the money, only $65,000 of which made it back to the buyer.

While Sonnen has been sentenced, Lighthouse Financial Group isn’t out of the woods yet. Cases against both Rosabal and Amsden are scheduled for later this year. In addition, three other Lighthouse employees have pleaded guilty and been sentenced for similar charges.

According to Holton, mortgage fraud causes blight in the local community and poses risks to financial institutions. This case is an example that those who commit mortgage fraud in the district will face consequences, he said.

The post West Linn realtor charged in money laundering case appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

TriMet announced today a $1.2 million grant from the Transportation Security Administration to install security cameras at 10 MAX stations and fund security improvements at other TriMet facilities.

TriMet has 85 MAX stations, and all but 10 of those stations have closed circuit cameras installed. There are security cameras on all MAX trains and on two-thirds of TriMet’s buses. The cameras serve as a crime deterrent and provide valuable evidence to be used in prosecution of crimes on trains and platforms, said TriMet spokeswoman Mary Fetsch.

There were 471 incidents of reported crime on MAX last year. TriMet estimates that there are 36 million trips on MAX per year.

Mike Irwin, Oregon Federal Security Director for the TSA, said the $1.2 million grant is the sixth awarded to TriMet to add cameras to the stations and enhance security. Security on MAX is particularly important because it is one of only a few light-rail lines in the country with service to an airport terminal.

$992,500 of the federal grant will pay for MAX station security cameras. The remaining $217,000 of the grant will pay for perimeter fencing and fiber-optic motion alarms at TriMet’s rail yards and security cameras at one of its bus yards.

The post TriMet receives $1.2M from TSA for security upgrades appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.