Linn County Sheriff Bruce Riley reports that on January 27, 2016, his detectives concluded a compliance check of all six metal recycling businesses located within Linn County. Metal theft is an ongoing problem for our local farmers, construction companies and various other professions. The compliance check began in September of 2015, after the Linn County Sheriff’s Office received complaints about several metal recycling businesses not abiding by state metal recycling laws.
Many of these laws were put into effect during the 2009/2010 Oregon Legislative session to help combat the increase in crimes related to the theft of metal. Due to the laws, metal recycling businesses are required to hold payment of non-ferrous metals for three days. Non-ferrous metals include aluminum, copper, lead, nickel, tin, titanium, zinc, and alloys such as brass. Metal recycling businesses are also required to notify law enforcement within 24 hours if they purchase non-ferrous metal from persons convicted of certain crimes. Every year, recycling businesses are provided with a list of names of the known offenders and are required to report them to law enforcement.
Detectives completed a compliance check by having a subject working undercover, sell non-ferrous metal to the recycling companies. They also inspected records of all companies for the last 12 months and found three businesses, Recycling Depot from Lebanon, MJ Recycling of Albany and Millersburg Metal Recycling out of compliance with the state metal recycling laws.
As a result of the investigation, numerous crimes and violations were found, resulting in a total of 22 crimes and 126 violations being charged against Recycling Depot, MJ Recycling, and Millersburg Metal Recycling.
William Lloyd Banks, 70, from Lebanon and co-owner of Recycling Depot, was arrested for six misdemeanor crimes and was issued citations for 47 violations. The crimes include failing to report to law enforcement purchases made from a known offender and conducting a dismantler business without a license. The violations are related to the improper documentation of metal records and each have a presumptive fine of $1,000.
Diana Lynn Banks, 71, from Lebanon and co-owner of Recycling Depot, was arrested for five misdemeanor crimes and was issued citations for 46 violations. The crimes include failing to report to law enforcement purchases made from a known offender and conducting a dismantler business without a license. The violations are related to the improper documentation of metal records and each has a presumptive fine of $1,000.
Gordon Arnold Moore, 79, from Crabtree and owner of Millsersburg Metals and Recycling, was cited for 10 violations that each has a presumptive fine of $1,000. The violations are related to the improper documentation of metal records.
Myung Jei Kim, 57, from Beaverton and owner of MJ Recycling, was arrested for 11 misdemeanor crimes of failing to report to law enforcement purchases made from a known offender. He was also issued 23 citations for violations related to the improper documentation of metal records. Each of these violations has a presumptive fine of $5,000 due to Mr. Kim being convicted of five scrap metal business violations in 2012.
The remaining three businesses found in compliance were: Burcham Metals, Farmland Tractor and Magnet for Metals.