Former ECUA Recycling Manager Sentenced In Half Million Dollar Racketeering Case

February 18, 2023

A former recycling manager at the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority’s Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) was sentenced to prison Friday for selling a half million dollars worth of recyclables through a shell company he owned.

Jarrell Lamar Reynolds previously pleaded guilty to first degree felony racketeering.  Judge John F. Simon sentenced him to seven years in state prison, plus three years probation. He was also ordered to pay full restitution in the amount of $510,685.06 to ECUA

In September of 2018, Reynolds was hired by ECUA to manage the recycling operation at the Perdido Landfill.

“He was hired, according to ECUA management, because of his experience in the industry and his personal contacts with potential new vendors and customers,” an arrest report states. “ECUA believed that hiring Reynolds would increase the efficiency  the recycling operation and increase their revenues through the introduction of new customers for their recyclable material.”

On December 5, 2018, Reynolds created a shell company called JAT Recycling in Georgia, and he was the lone officer of the company.  He used the  shell company to acquire the property from ECUA and sell the recyclables. Once sold to third parties, Reynolds maintained control of about $510,000 in profits and transferred them to multiple accounts he controlled, according to court documents.

The profits were then used by Reynolds to purchase cars, investment properties, and other personal expenses.

Additional charges of racketeering as well as organized fraud, money laundering, and extortion were dropped in exchange for Reynolds’ guilty plea.

“Today’s sentencing hearing concluded the hard work of ECUA staff and the State Attorney’s office to bring Mr. Reynolds to justice,” said ECUA Executive Director Bruce Woody.  “ECUA Finance Director, Justin Smith, identified a decrease in revenue from the sales of recycling materials within two months of Mr. Reynold’s hiring and quickly conducted an internal audit that resulted in the filing of a criminal report with the Economic Crimes Division of the Escambia County Sheriff’s office.  The State Attorney’s office then filed charges that lead to today’s adjudication of guilt on one count of racketeering.”

“Although the ECUA and its ratepayers were protected from financial harm by insurance designed to protect the public’s assets against losses, this conviction was important to demonstrate that checks and balances are in place to discover misappropriation of funds, and this conviction will further deter such activity. My thanks to ECUA’s Justin Smith and Assistant State Attorney, Paul Gillespie, for their work in bringing Mr. Reynolds to justice,” Woody added.

Comments

4 Responses to “Former ECUA Recycling Manager Sentenced In Half Million Dollar Racketeering Case”

  1. D. Flowers on February 18th, 2023 12:43 pm

    I hope he does is full 7 years without TV and gym privileges. Lessons must be learned. He is a crook.

  2. TB on February 18th, 2023 8:34 am

    The level of intelligence and effort it took to create this “Side hustle” could have been directed to set up a legitimate business and this fellow could have been the CEO of a multimillion dollar company.
    Hope he learns his lesson and turns his life around.

  3. Effective/Ineffective on February 18th, 2023 8:16 am

    … “this conviction was important to demonstrate that checks and balances are in place to discover misappropriation of funds, and this conviction will further deter such activity. My thanks to ECUA’s Justin Smith and Assistant State Attorney, Paul Gillespie, for their work in bringing Mr. Reynolds to justice,” Woody added.”

    No…… This conviction is proof that ECUA’s general hiring practices needs competent folks in the big chairs to make decisions as to get rid of the “good ol’ boy” culture.

  4. dubz on February 18th, 2023 7:37 am

    I’m glad he got caught.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News