5/29/13 - The owner of a Howell recycling company has been sentenced after accepting a plea deal to charges that he used a device manipulate weight scales. Regal Recycling owner Vern Brockway was charged with general weights and measures violations in April following a one-year investigation by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Developmentâs Weights and Measures division and the Livingston County Sheriffâs Department. After rejecting a plea deal in the case earlier this month, court records show he accepted a deal and was immediately sentenced Tuesday in 53rd District Court to pay $25,000 in costs and $1,500 in fines. Authorities discovered a device on one of Brockwayâs scales during a routine inspection in April of last year. They alleged the device could manipulate the scale to increase or decrease the measured weight of cargo trucks by more than a ton. A review of the Sheriffâs Department reports by WHMI found statements from an employee who claimed to have seen the device used several times, mostly on trucks bringing scrap metal from a General Motors contract job in Flint. The report also included statements from other employees who said it was common knowledge that the scale was used to reduce the weight of incoming scrap. (JK)
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