Copar’s ups and downs

While what you read in the Westerly Sun makes it seem like this notorious company is winning, that’s not the whole picture
Copar has more legal, financial problems

Charlestown Town Councilor George Tremblay says
Charlestown has done everything it can to control
Copar, when in fact, they've done almost nothing

By Will Collette

If you’re a Copar fan and all you read is the Westerly Sun, you’d think the company has outfoxed its many opponents. That’s not because Sun investigative reporter Dale Faulkner isn't doing his job of covering the Copar story. Quite the contrary, I think he’s doing a great job, but there are limits to what a paper like the Sun can or will cover.

The Sun has reported that the Copar Quarries successfully quashed the Town of Westerly’s half-hearted efforts to enforce its own cease-and-desist order by getting the whole case moved to state Superior Court. That's to the relief of town officials who were clearly over their heads.

You may also have read Charlestown Town Councilor George Tremblay’s spirited defense of Charlestown’s attempts to control Copar. According to Tremblay, Charlestown has done everything it can. 

As is so often the case, Tremblay got his facts wrong. In fact, Charlestown has done next to nothing to control Copar’s Bradford site and absolutely nothing to control Copar's Charlestown site, despite an array of enforcement options. Charlestown showed that it was willing to do anything – anything, legal or illegal – to block the Whalerock wind project while it blew off the suffering Charlestown neighbors of Copar.

Now, there’s a new Sun article by Faulkner, and follow-up Sun editorial, reporting that the limited testing done on silica dust in and around the Bradford quarry did not exceed federal standards. Again, Dale reports the facts and the facts are that, for the limited duration that the tests were done – with Copar’s knowledge they were happening – the dust did not exceed EPA’s current exposure standards.

But that’s not the whole story, either on silica dust or on the bigger Copar picture. 

What silicosis does to lung tissue

One key fact is that EPA’s standards are out of date. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed cutting exposure limits in half, and are fighting tooth and nail with industry and Congressional Republicans to make that standard stick. 

The other key fact is that only a permanent 24/7 monitoring program will give you useful data. 

And finally, EPA standards that are based on exposure to healthy adults are useless when applied to babies and small children, the frail elderly and people suffering from existing lung diseases.

But beyond these details, there’s a lot more important information about Copar that hasn't yet made it into the Westerly Sun.

Phil Armetta - Middletown CT based trash titan
is the money man behind Copar
(photo by Stephen Devoto, Middletown Eye)

In my last several investigative articles on Copar and its executives, I detailed the serious legal and financial issues that should have come out before Copar was allowed to do business in Rhode Island. 

I noted the long list of criminal convictions of their CEO Sam Cocopard, the federal prison time done by their chief financial backer Phil Armetta, as well as the legal problems of CFO Randy Roberge and Controller Daniel Thibodeau.

I detailed the crushing amount of debt Copar has taken on and contrasted that to the many times its CEO Sam Cocopard has simply washed out his debt by going bankrupt. I listed the many civil judgments that have already been issued against Copar and its subsidiaries.

Of course time doesn’t stand still, and neither do the boys at Copar, so I went back through the court records and Westlaw database to look to see if they’ve had other legal or financial adventures since my last report. They did. 

Let’s start with....

IRS Tax Liens

This just showed up on the Westlaw database – on May 21^st, the IRS whacked Copar with a tax lien for $32,247. This was not the first time that Copar or its CEO Sam Cocopard had been dinged for not paying taxes, but this is quite recent. Copar didn’t pay off the IRS until July.

This is the seventh time that a Copar subsidiary or CEO Sam Cocopard has been hit with a tax lien. It’s the fifth one from IRS. Click here to see a comprehensive list of the company’s civil problems.

Richmond Commons sales deadline expires

The original plan for Richmond Commons, now less likely to ever happen

Despite Copar’s reputation, they were welcomed with open arms into Richmond last spring to set up their third Rhode Island operation right off Route 138 on the edge of Richmond’s major business district. Copar signed a deal with John Aiello, owner of the 552 acre proposed Richmond Commons development.

The deal involved Copar paying Aiello for the stone they remove from the site, preparing the site for eventual construction of Richmond Commons, with an option – and expectation – that Copar would buy the property from Aiello.

Under the deal, Copar was supposed to come up with $3 million cash by the end of November. Aiello would then give them a $9 million mortgage and Copar would be the new owner. Aiello has already secured all the necessary town permits to build what is supposed to be South County’s largest mixed use development.

Richmond Town Council President Joe Reddish was more than willing to overlook Copar’s terrible history with Westerly and Charlestown because he really wants to see Richmond Commons get built on his watch after over a decade of stalls and palaver.

But no deal. Copar didn't come up with the $3 million and, sources tell me, there are even more problems. Word is that Aiello is very disappointed with Copar and is looking for a new buyer. Now Reddish is stuck with Copar – and no Richmond Commons, it looks like, for the foreseeable future.

Copar has ANOTHER gravel spill

Photo by Tina Shea

Once again, one of Copar’s purple trucks had a little accident and spilled a large quantity of its cargo on a public road. 

The spill occurred on December 3 and was photographed by CCBC activist Tina Shea. The spill occurred in Charlestown right on Route 216 near the Bradford quarry’s main gate. As you may recall, Copar had a big spill in September at the junction of 91 and 216.

Since this spill was on the Charlestown side of Route 216, Tina called Charlestown Police. She was told by CPD that it's really a Westerly problem (which has been the party line for the CCA Town Councilors - Boss Tom Gentz, Deputy Dan Slattery and George Tremblay) who control town government. 

Tina called Westerly PD. Westerly PD said, nah-uh. The spill happened on the Charlestown so it's Charlestown's jurisdiction. Tina called CPD back to tell them what Westerly PD said. She waited as long as she could before having to go to work to see if CPD would send a cruiser out. They didn't.

Neither town police force covered themselves in glory on this one - playing pass the hot potato is not very good community policing.

Phil Armetta loses to his kids

One of the reasons Copar exists and is in our backyard is Phil Armetta, the money man behind the company. Until Armetta was swept up in the federal investigation of organized crime in the waste disposal industry, he was a fast-rising figure in the Connecticut garbage business. 

Phil's son, Michael Armetta, president of Phil's former
flagship company, Dainty Trash 
(photo by Stephen Devoto, Middletown Eye)

But after pleading to a reduced charge and serving three months in federal prison, Armetta had to give up his trash businesses. He gave up control of the then under construction Kleen Energy “recycling” plant in Middletown shortly before it blew up in 2010 (killing six workers) and deeded over his trash hauling businesses, including his flagship, “Dainty Trash Services” (I’m not making that name up) to his children. Click here for the Hartford Courant’s colorful background on Armetta. Click here for a CNN-Fortune Magazine piece.

But since then, he swore he’d get back into the trash business. Thus his association with the merry band of characters who run Copar. Phil has often fancied old quarry sites for new waste facilities – Kleen Energy was built in an old quarry. Sam Cocopard and his colleagues quarry the land, creating very nice holes in the ground. Copar is currently building Armetta’s new flagship trash disposal site in Lisbon, CT, again in an old mine site.

But Phil also had an eye on his old businesses and has been in an open feud with his children for several years. Among other things, Phil has been trying to restrict their use of his old office and property which is right next to his new office in Middletown, CT. He fought his kids before the Middletown Planning & Zoning Commission and lost.

By searching Connecticut court records, I found this September decision which hands Phil a decisive defeat – the Superior Court of CT denied his appeal of his loss before the P&Z.  

The story I hear from Middletown sources is that the kids have their own plan for dealing with Dad although they did drop their own lawsuit against Dad, also in September.

For Charlestown, Westerly and Richmond, the lesson here is that while Copar may have presented itself to Rhode Island as a quarry business, it doesn’t take a whole lot of research to see that there’s a whole lot more to them than just cracking rocks.

More legal problems for Copar, Cocopard

"Samuel F. Cocopard - Non-appearing"

Since my last round-up of legal problems for Copar and its subsidiaries, and its CEO Sam Cocopard, several new cases turned up on Westlaw and in the Connecticut Courts database. Among them:

Roscommon Infinity LLC settled its lawsuit against Copar in May for an undisclosed amount. 

Cavalry SPVI LLC filed a contracts-collection lawsuit against Copar CEO Sam Cocopard on August 2. According to court records, it looks like Cocopard was a no-show and refused service. 

On August 21^st, Asset Acceptance LLC also filed suit against Cocopard with the same result – no show, no service.

For many companies I have investigated over the years, the above issues would be more than enough to trigger alarm bells. I've seen companies lose licenses and contracts for less, and these items are simply updates on Copar’s already remarkable rap sheet.

That’s enough for today. Just as a preview, I did a little back-checking on one of the more outlandish cases involving our Copar neighbors and even made a four hour pilgrimage to collect the records for what I promise you will be an amazing up-coming story.

To read all of Progressive Charlestown’s coverage of the Copar Quarries controversy, click here.