Man arrested for ripping off a recycling centre

A MAN from Elda was arrested by the Guardia Civil on suspicion of continuous fraud and falsification of documents .

According to a spokesman for the force, in July officers from the Guardia Civil’s rural crime unit (ROCA) received a complaint filed by the owner of a recycling and waste recovery company located in Petrer.

In the report, the victim stated that a client had cheated him over the sale of wooden pallets. The client allegedly sold him just one pallet, but modified the sales note adding an extra zero, so got paid for selling 10 pallets.

The spokesman said the fraudster would first go to the unloading and weighing area of the recycling centre. After unloading the materials he intended to sell, they were reviewed by an employee of the centre and recorded on a delivery note by the manager.

This note was handed over to the seller for him to present it at the company’s office to receive payment for said materials.

Between the unloading area and the office, the fraudster would change the delivery note by adding an extra digit at the end, and hence was paid more than he should have been.

Investigating officers reviewed all the delivery notes of sales made by this person, who had been a regular customer throughout the year, discovering that the fraudster had made 161 sales, modifying 132 delivery notes, and obtaining additional profit of €3,103.

With all this information, Ibi’s ROCA officers proceeded to arrest a 48-year-old Spanish resident of Elda for the offence of continuous fraud and for

The detainee made an extra profit of more than €3,000

falsification of a private document.

The man appeared before a Novelda judge and was released pending further court proceedings.

The case is still open, as officers continue to analyse all documents concerning this person to determine whether he had committed similar frauds in previous years, either at this same recycling centre or at others in the area.