"Arrests made in scheme to steal fuel from Miami airport"

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Arrests made in scheme to steal fuel from Miami airport
The Associated Press


MIAMI - The president of an environmental cleanup company has been charged
with conspiracy to steal jet fuel from Miami International Airport.

Cliff Berry II, 31, was arrested Friday at the holiday party for Cliff Berry
Inc., records show. Berry was charged with racketeering, conspiracy,
organized fraud, grand theft and tampering with evidence.

Also charged were Jeff Smith, the company's former environmental director
and Brian Schneir, the facilities maintenance supervisor for Aircraft
Service International Group, the company that managed the airport fuel farm.

Schneir turned himself in Monday and Smith was expected to turn himself in
Thursday.

The arrests are part of an investigation involving the sale of stolen fuel
to Haitian freighters, private jets and yacht owners docked at Key Biscayne.
Authorities say 18 people and five companies have been charged since July
2004 in connection with distributing 50 million gallons of jet fuel from the
facility every month to airliners.

"You have to hit them where it hurts, and for people like this, that's their
pockets," said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.

Cliff Berry Inc. was paid 13 cents a gallon to take away rainwater
contaminated with fuel at the fuel farm. But prosecutors say the company
would regularly pick up pure jet fuel and take it out of the airport
compound in trucks that were supposedly carrying wastewater.

The company would then charge the county as if wastewater had been removed,
authorities said. The amount of fuel stolen was "far in excess of $100,000,"
the arrest affidavit states.

A truck driver for Cliff Berry Inc. told investigators that he would take
the oil to a special tank at one of the company's facility. Smith controlled
access to that tank, the arrest affidavit says.

Larry Doyle, vice president of the family-owned company, said he's confident
the business will be cleared.

"These charges are without merit, and we look forward to go to court and
prove our innocence," he said. "It's been frustrating for us because it's
been 18 months and we haven't had a chance to do that yet."

Berry posted a $45,000 bond and was released from jail Friday.

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