STEEL DYNAMICS HEADLINESSteel Producers /
Steel Dynamics
OmniSource Responds to Criminal Charges
Oct. 26, 2010 Steel Dynamics, Inc. announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, OmniSource Corp., was indicted on multiple criminal charges involving the alleged receipt or attempted receipt of stolen property.
Mark Millett, President of OmniSource Corp., said that these criminal charges against the company, brought by Marion County, Ind., Prosecutor Carl Brizzi, stem from a February 2009 police raid and allegations that a subsidiary was systematically purchasing stolen scrap metal. The company notes that the allegations come after a lawsuit filed on October 15 against the Prosecutor seeking the return of $277,000 in cash unlawfully retained after the raid.
"Instead of prosecuting the scrap thieves, including dozens of cases we turned over for prosecution, Brizzi has instead turned his sights on the company which tried to catch the thieves,” Millett said. “OmniSource is the scrap industry leader in anti-theft training and law enforcement cooperation. In fact, we hired more than 50 IMPD police officers, at our own expense, to help detect and deter metal theft. This indictment of OmniSource is not only unfair to the company but an insult to the IMPD police officers who worked diligently, who did their part to stop metal thefts in Marion County, and whose reputations have been similarly slandered.
"In the coming months, we will aggressively defend against these baseless charges to vindicate the reputations of our company and more than 250 Marion County employees,” Millett continued. “The lawsuit filed last week against Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi lays bare the Prosecutor's underlying financial motivation behind this action—namely, to wrongfully seek forfeiture of OmniSource's property—and also challenges the constitutionality of Brizzi's decision to outsource his statutory obligations to a private attorney motivated by the prospect of millions of dollars in contingent legal fees."
OmniSource notes that it has been nationally recognized for its anti-theft policies and employee anti-theft training procedures, and helped draft Indiana and Marion County's strict metal recycling laws. The company claims that its anti-theft program has resulted in dozens of arrests and prosecutions nationwide.