Former Town Employee, Landscaper Accused Of Bribery, Bid-Rigging

CORTLANDT, NY — A former town of Cortlandt employee and a Peekskill landscaper were accused of illegally dumping construction materials that cost about $1.5 million to clean up.

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced Thursday a seven-count indictment charging Glenn Griffin, 53, of Cortlandt Manor, and Robert Dyckman, 51, of Verplanck, with bribery and bid rigging in a scheme that saw hundreds of truckloads of unauthorized materials dumped at a Cortlandt town facility.

Illegal Dumping Scheme

According to prosecutors, from 2018 to February 2020, Griffin and Dyckman engaged in an unauthorized dumping scheme. Dyckman gave Griffin and his employees unauthorized access to Arlo Lane, a Cortlandt facility, to dump hundreds of large truckloads of unauthorized materials such as thick concrete, cement with rebar, large rocks and soil.

Based on estimates provided by third-party vendors, the town of Cortlandt estimated it will cost between $600,000 to $1.5 million to remove these materials.

Authorities said that Dyckman usually allowed Griffin and his workers to access Arlo Lane on Saturdays or after working hours. To carry out the scheme, Dyckman would attempt to clear senior town management away from the facility around the time of the unauthorized dumping, prosecutors said.

He even arranged for a subordinate town worker to work overtime when Griffin was dumping the illegal loads. Dyckman would falsely record the worker's overtime as having occurred during the week to further conceal the scheme, authorities said.

In exchange for access to the town facility, Griffin gave Dyckman cash bribes, firewood, flowers and gardening materials and made extensive improvements to Dyckman's home at no cost, prosecutors said. Griffin also gave Dyckman a backdated, false invoice for Dyckman to give to his insurance company in support of a false insurance claim.

Bid-Rigging Scheme

Griffin also engaged in a bid-rigging scheme between 2015 and 2018, prosecutors said. He defrauded the village of Croton-on-Hudson for work on its schools and the hamlet of Verplanck for work at its fire department.

Authorities said he made sham, non-competitive and inflated bids on behalf of entities that Griffin did not work for or have authorization to submit bids on behalf of, so that he would be the low bidder in a pool of purportedly competitive bids and receive public money for work on the projects.

Based on the bids, Griffin was awarded contracts with a combined value exceeding $133,000, prosecutors said.

The charges filed against the two men, as well as the maximum term of imprisonment, are:

• Conspiracy to pay and receive bribes and gratuities: illegal dumping scheme; Griffin and Dyckman; 5 years
• Payment of bribes and gratuities in illegal dumping scheme; Griffin; 10 years
• Receipt of bribes and gratuities in illegal dumping scheme; Dyckman; 10 years
• Conspiracy to misapply and convert property of local government receiving federal funds in illegal dumping scheme; Griffin and Dyckman; 5 years
• Wire fraud conspiracy: bid-rigging scheme; Griffin; 20 years
• Wire fraud: bid-rigging scheme; Griffin; 20 years
• Aggravated identity theft: bid-rigging scheme; Griffin; mandatory minimum 2 years