DEC fines trucking company owner $100,000

The owner of an East Patchogue trucking company was fined $100,000 by the state Department of Environmental Conservation after the agency said he ran an illegal sand-mining and landfill business behind a Manorville home.

Frank Provenzano of East Patchogue, owner of trucking company Hagerman Haulers, must also remove 20,000 cubic yards of solid waste -- mostly soil and construction debris -- from the site, DEC officials announced Tuesday. All but $15,000 of the fine will be suspended if Provenzano cleans and restores the 7-acre site, the DEC said in a statement.

Provenzano last month signed an order of consent admitting that he removed 30,000 cubic yards of sand and gravel from the Sunrise Highway Extension site. He will not face criminal charges if he restores the site, officials said.

DEC officials discovered violations at the site in 2007, said DEC Regional Director Peter Scully, who added that the case was a "classic 'scoop and fill' " operation.

"It took a lot longer than we had hoped, and it is satisfying that this site will be cleaned up," Scully said. "It is only because we were dogged in our persistence to find a responsible party."

The site of the illegal mining and dumping is on the same property as a single-family home owned by Andrew Mazzei and Linda A. Wagner, DEC officials said.

Mazzei and Wagner do not face charges connected to the case, DEC officials said.

Provenzano declined to comment.

Brookhaven Town Councilman Daniel Panico said he and other town officials will monitor the Manorville site to make sure Provenzano removes the solid waste and restores the property to its previous state.

Supervisor Mark Lesko called the DEC's enforcement at the site "a victory for law abiding residents that seek to live in a quiet and well maintained community."