Scrap dealer to pay $45 K over Fort Drum shell casings

FORT DRUM, New York (WWNY) – An Evans Mills scrap metal dealer has agreed to pay $45,000 to settle allegations it violated the federal “False Claims Act,” the U.S. Attorney’s office in Syracuse said Friday.

In a press release, the U.S. Attorney’s office said Northstar Auto and Salvage LLC bought brass shell casings recovered from ‘live fire’ training on Fort Drum, and then sold the brass for a $24,000 profit.

The catch? Northstar never had a contract to purchase Fort Drum brass.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, even though the Army does collect shell casings and sell them to scrap metal dealers, in this case a Fort Drum civilian employee and two soldiers who were not authorized to dispose of the brass collected 29,000 pounds of it between 2017 and 2019, and in their own pick-up trucks drove them to Northstar.

“Northstar did not make any effort to verify whether the individuals were authorized to dispose of the brass, beyond accepting their verbal assurances that they were authorized,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

The U.S. Attorney’s office noted that knowingly getting public property, (like shell casings), from a federal employee or member of the Armed Services who lawfully may not sell the property violates the False Claims Act.

The investigation and settlement was the result of work by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York, and the Northeast Field Office of the Department of the Army, Criminal Investigation Division. The New York State Police provided substantial assistance, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

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