Group accused in $7.6M recycling fraud to be arraigned next month

Members of a Riverside-area family accused of operating a recycling redemption scheme that resulted in nearly $8 million in fraudulent receipts from the state’s CalRecycle program will be arraigned together in November, a judge ruled Thursday.

Jose Raul Chica, 50, Genaro Solis Fuentes, 43, Maria Ermelinda Saenz Gonzalez, 41, Victor Manuel Hernandez, 23, Jose Alfredo Giron Henriquez, 36, Jose Antonio Interiano Martinez, 35, Manuela Rodriguez Rizo, 58, and Francisco Balmore Amaya Saenz, 24, are charged with multiple felonies, including fraud, perjury, grand theft and embezzlement.

Fuentes is the only one unaccounted for, his whereabouts unknown.

The other defendants had arraignments scheduled separately over the last two months, but because they were seeking private counsel and other reasons, the hearings did not go forward.

During a status hearing Thursday at the Riverside Hall of Justice, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Jason Armand formally set the defendants’ group arraignment for Nov. 14 at the downtown courthouse.

They are all free on varying bond amounts.

The California Department of Justice alleges that between October 2022 and June of this year, the defendants engaged in a series of recycling transfers, smuggling 178 tons of aluminum cans and plastic bottles from Arizona to recycling centers located throughout Riverside County. They redeemed the out-of-state recyclables in California, netting $7.6 million in ill-gotten gains, prosecutors allege.

CalRecycle Director Rachel Wagoner said in July the agency, along with the Justice Department, coordinate investigative efforts to “stop criminals and protect funds that belong to Californians,” such as in the present case.

“California will not tolerate fraud against our recycling deposit system that has kept nearly a half-trillion bottles and cans from being littered or landfilled in our state,” Wagoner said.

The California Beverage Container Recycling Program provides 5- to 10-cent redemption payments for each bottle and can turned in for recycling. The program is funded by extra fees charged to consumers for the sale of canned and bottled beverages statewide.

Arizona does not have a similar program. California Redemption Value, or CRV, fees apply only to those recyclable materials sold in California.

CalRecycle officials detected illegally imported bottles and cans last fall and initiated an investigation that was joined by the state Justice Department’s Bureau of Investigation Recycle Fraud Team.

The agency said the recycling centers which facilitated the conspirators’ transfers will also face criminal penalties.

Officials said the investigation resulted in the seizure of $1.06 million in illegally imported containers that had yet to be recycled.

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