Summary

Hugo Vargas-Bracamonte, formerly employed as a hazardous waste technician at Innovative Waste Utilization, Inc. (IWU) in Phoenix, was sentenced in Superior Court of Arizona, Phoenix, AZ, to seven years in prison and fined $2,000 for the unlawful transportation of hazardous waste. Vargas-Bracamonte’s guilty plea in November 2004 stemmed from an investigation of IWU and its California-based parent company, Industrial Waste Utilization, for conspiracy to commingle hazardous waste (including flammables, corrosives, and poisons) with non-regulated waste for disposal in an Arizona public landfill. The investigation is being conducted jointly with the EPA-CID, DEA, and Arizona Attorney General’s Office.