Nassau County’s Consumer Affairs Gets the Job Done

The back of a T&S truck

MINEOLA- When the Internal Revenue Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and U.S. Attorney’s Office took part in an investigation to find out how $75 million in oil was stolen by 2 petroleum transporters, it was the Nassau County Office of Consumer Affairs that was contacted to find out how this could have happened.

“We were sure we could find out the problem,” Consumer Affairs Commissioner Roger Bogsted said. And they surely did. Once 34 trucks were seized by the FBI and given to Consumer Affairs for testing, they did thorough inspections and within hours found the trucks were rigged so they could mix oil and air, which then inflates the volume.

This rigging was very intricate, and was something that would not be picked up in a routine inspection of one of these trucks, according to Bogsted.

Most of these deliveries were made to commercial establishments in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, by Mystic Tank Lines of Astoria, and T & S Trucking of Brooklyn. These companies have been indicted and are still being investigated by the FBI.

Now, with all the different jurisdictions that the FBI and IRS could choose from to investigate this matter, why choose Nassau County Consumer Affairs? “Nassau is the experts on weights and measures,” Bogsted said. Deputy County Executive Tim Driscoll received numerous praise-filled phone calls from representatives from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the IRS and FBI saying it was one of the best examples of federal-local cooperation that they have seen. According to Bogsted, it was a perfectly executed operation.

Nassau County Consumer Affairs is the most profitable department in the county, with revenue last year exceeding 4 million dollars. Since 1990, expenses have remained about the same with the revenue growing from under a million to over 4 million.

“We are just fortunate to have good employees,” Bogsted said. CSEA Local 830 President Jerry Laricchiuta echoed that thought and said, “It’s important for the public to know of the great work of our members at Consumer Affairs. They always provide a great service to the public, and we are proud of them for that.”