A Brooklyn-based real estate company pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to storing hazardous waste without a permit at a commercial property in Niagara Falls, the U.S. attorney for Western New York announced.
JEMF Buffalo Industrial LLC admitted it stored expired hand sanitizer at its property at 3800 Highland Avenue in Niagara Falls. Between Jan. 13 and May 18, 2022, 326 pallets of hand sanitizer were shipped to the site from Pennsylvania and placed on the north part of the property, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency executed a search warrant at the site in December 2023 and documented a pile of dumped, expired hand sanitizer about 73 feet long by 24 feet wide by 5 feet high. Samples taken from the material were found to be ignitable under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and therefore classified as a hazardous waste, the announcement said. Prosecutors say JEMF was aware the sanitizer was hazardous.
The company pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara to storage of a hazardous waste without a permit. The offense carries a maximum penalty of $50,000 per day of violation. Sentencing is scheduled for March 15, 2027, at 9 a.m. before Judge Arcara.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron J. Mango. The plea followed an investigation by the EPA Criminal Investigation Division and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office noted that Regional Logistics Group LLC, a tenant at the Highland Avenue property, had agreed to accept and handle the pallets from the Pennsylvania site at no cost or expense to JEMF during purchase negotiations for the Pennsylvania property.
