Two more people convicted in a multi-million-dollar recycling fraud scheme were sentenced to jail this week.
Jose Raul Chica, 50, and Maria Ermelinda Saenz-Gonzalez, 43, both of Jurupa Valley, were sentenced in Superior Court in Riverside on Monday, July 28, to 364 days in jail, two years probation and a four-year suspended state prison term, court records show.
Chica was ordered to pay $874,499 in restitution.
The state Attorney General’s Office, which prosecuted the case, said eight defendants obtained 178 tons of aluminum cans and plastic water bottles in Arizona that they redeemed for $7.6 million across the state line using recycling centers they owned in Jurupa Valley and Rancho Cucamonga.
In California, the state attaches a fee, known as CRV, to many aluminum cans and plastic bottles containing beverages. Beverage sellers make a payment to the California Recycling Fund for each container. The cost is passed along to consumers in the form of the CRV fee paid at checkout. That fee gives consumers an incentive to redeem the containers for money from the state rather than throwing them away.
California law prohibits importing recyclables for redemption. The fraud occurs when a recyclable is redeemed for cash without someone first having paid the CRV to the state
Arizona does not provide a financial incentive to recycle.
Four others were previously sentenced for their roles: Francisco Balmore Amaya Saenz, Manuela Rodriguez Rizo and Jose Antonio Interiano Martinez, 180 days in jail each; and Victor Manuel Hernandez, 30 days in jail and restitution of $47,330.
Arrest warrants remained in effect Wednesday for Genaro Solis Fuentes and Alfredo Giron Henriquez.
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