Bay Area Concrete is part of a sprawling network of hauling, recycling and construction companies owned by Bay Area couple Preet Johal and Yadwinder "Kevin" Singh. In a statement, PG&E spokesperson James Noonan called the alleged actions of Bay Area Concrete completely unacceptable., We will pursue every available action to remedy the situation and do right by those that we have the privilege to serve, Noonan said. Huggins retired, and Kooistra sold his home and moved out of state after being confronted by PG&E investigators, the counterclaim by PG&E said. According to the countercomplaint, Kooistra denied any wrongdoing or having an interest in the companies, despite the interest being disclosed in public records. Butte County District Attorney Michael Ramsey confirmed that PG&E contacted his office regarding the allegations and said he is waiting for further information from the utility. On March 15, 2016, Lucero was indicted for violations of the federal Clean Water Act. There are 800+ professionals named "Yadwinder Singh", who use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas, and opportunities. The allegations track closely with the results of an investigation last year by ProPublica and the Bay City News Foundation, which found that PG&E had overlooked numerous warning signs when it hired Bay Area Concrete. Neither Singh, Johal nor Olivero attended the Hayward Planning Commission hearing on Nov. 8, 2018. More than 80 people were killed. PG&Es counterclaim, filed earlier this month, names Bay Area Concrete, both former PG&E employees, Singh, Johal, several of their other companies and Bay Area Concrete CEO Kevin Olivero as defendants. It is not clear whether or how PG&E vetted Bay Area Concrete before hiring the firm. Something. Bay Area Concrete overcharged for travel time while hauling and billed PG&E for work that was never done or was unnecessary. Packal also alleged that PG&E-contracted hydrovac trucks were dumping illegally. Listing photos showed a home gym, billiard room and in-ground swimming pool with panoramic mountain views. The couple did not respond to requests for comment via mail, phone, email and social media. "They have obviously factored into their business model that they can afford these fines and they can afford these violations because they're making enough money," Carroll said. In February, PG&E CEO William Johnson publicly accused Hayward-based Bay Area Concrete Recycling of defrauding the utility and bribing PG&E employees. Great knowledge about SDWan.<br><br>Good knowledge about Azure, BGP, OSPF, MPLS, STP, RSTP, IPsecvpn, SSLvpn, SSL decryption, Firewall management. The accused PG&E employees, Ronald Huggins Jr. and Ryan Kooistra, did not respond to requests for comment. Very good beside manners. Dr. Yadwinder Singh, MD . Here's how the scheme worked, according to PG&E's allegations in court filings. In exchange, the lawsuit alleges, a company linked to Johal and Singh repaved Huggins driveway while they were supposed to be working on a PG&E job. But at a city Planning Commission meeting in November 2018, commissioners were unmoved. 21 talking about this. This Dec. 3, 2018, file photo, shows homes leveled by the Camp Fire line at the Ridgewood Mobile Home Park retirement community in Paradise, Calif. A PG&E contractor accused of bribery and fraud during the Camp Fire cleanup had a history of illicit dumping, conflict with regulators and employed a senior manager connected to environmental crimes, according to a new investigation by the Bay City News Foundation and ProPublica. Bauters spoke in defense of Bay Area Concrete, arguing that city staff had not responded to the company's attempts to come into compliance. To assist in the cleanup, PG&E hired a fleet of as many as 180 hydrovac trucks, which flocked to Paradise from as far away as Kansas City and Montana. Records show that Kooistra owned another company, CCI Management LLC, which was founded in June 2019. PG&E bankruptcy filings from March 2019 showed that the utility owed Bay Area Concrete nearly $4 million. The pair were careful to keep Bay Area Concrete's purchase orders low enough that Huggins would not have to seek approval from his supervisors. My Official Page - Yadwinder Singh #14 Power Forward for Indian Senior Men's Basketball Team;. During public comment, Gerald Carroll, an attorney for another neighbor, D.W. Nicholson, pleaded with the commission to deny the appeal, citing concerns about the health of their employees from dust. Meanwhile, competing companies lost work with PG&E. PG&E also hired another company owned by Singh and Johal, PMK Contractors, to help build its command center for the fire, according to Packal. Bay Area Concrete is part of a sprawling network of hauling, recycling and construction companies owned by Bay Area couple Preet Johal and Yadwinder "Kevin" Singh. PG&E's court filing alleges that Regal Rose LLC, a shell company established by Singh, was also in possession of a property in Arizona when it was transferred to Kooistra. "We think we got completely screwed by PG&E," Packal said. Here in socialcounts.org you can track Yadwinder Singh Yaadi YouTube Live Subscriber Count and analytic A mound of crushed concrete got bigger and bigger and workers could no longer reach the top of it with hoses to control the dust. PG&E has initiated an internal review to determine why this wasnt detected earlier, and we will be enhancing our protocols to ensure this doesnt happen again, a PG&E spokesperson wrote. The sprawling complex includes parking for utility trucks, a repair station, outdoor storage for large spools of wires, pipes and other equipment, and a compressed natural gas vehicle fueling station. But Singh wanted $5.5 million about $1 million more than the assessed value and Rossi said he eventually realized that he'd never be able to buy the house back. Butte County District Attorney Michael Ramsey said last year that PG&E alerted his office to the allegations against Bay Area Concrete. Bay Area Concrete opened a dump in Paradise to take the waste from the cleanup. Bay Area Concrete hired a manager of that site, Kevin Olivero, to be its CEO. View the profiles of people named Yadwinder Singh. Bay Area Concrete's contract with PG&E was terminated, and the company is under criminal investigation. 2023 FOX Television Stations, until WED 9:00 AM PST, Mendocino County Coast, until WED 8:00 AM PST, Carquinez Strait and Delta, from THU 2:00 AM PST until THU 8:00 AM PST, Carquinez Strait and Delta, from WED 1:00 AM PST until WED 8:00 AM PST, North Bay interior valleys, East Bay Interior Valleys, Santa Cruz Mountains, Santa Lucia Mountains and Los Padres National Forest, from THU 12:00 AM PST until THU 9:00 AM PST, Mendocino County Coast, High Stakes: Sports Betting in California, Japanese startup announces balloon flights taking passengers up to space. Hydro excavation trucks use pressurized water to dig around delicate equipment and avoid accidentally rupturing a gas pipeline or destroying buried wires. The complaint alleges that Huggins and Kooistra approved the overbilled work in exchange for kickbacks. Mike Mibach catches up with the principal investigator of the new study along with a San Francisco fire captain to discuss the results. In selecting Bay Area Concrete for the environmentally sensitive job, however, PG&E ignored the firm's history of illegal dumping and conflict with regulators, as well as its employment of a senior manager connected to environmental crimes, according to interviews and a review of court records, public documents and business filings by the Bay City News Foundation and ProPublica. The company is owned and managed by the husband-wife team Yadwinder Kevin Singh and Preet Johal, according to local and state documents. PG&E alleges that Huggins approved false invoices and concealed fraudulent charges throughout PG&E's contract with Bay Area Concrete. The accused PG&E employees, Ronald Huggins Jr. and Ryan Kooistra, did not respond to requests for comment. This is in addition to avoiding the significant negative environmental impacts that trucking and processing these materials elsewhere in the state would have caused.. Meanwhile, competing companies lost work with PG&E. Four days later, he retired. Ownership of that new company was later transferred to a PG&E employee who oversaw Bay Area Concretes work in Paradise. Singh and Johal wanted to negotiate an exclusive contract to dump on the property. In 16 years, the pair's. To pay the bribes, Singh used a series of real estate transactions involving a 5,600-square-foot home in Saratoga to transfer money to Kooistra, PG&E alleges. February 26, 2021 / 9:44 AM Dawn Sweatt, an attorney for Bay Area Concrete, said her clients "vehemently deny" the allegations by PG&E. Butte County District Attorney Michael Ramsey said last year that PG&E alerted his office to the allegations against Bay Area Concrete. The new court filings show that PG&E had a longer business relationship with Bay Area Concrete than previously known. In November 2013, Hayward officials received a complaint alleging that Singh and Johal had ignored the city and begun operating the recycling facility without a permit. It turned out to be a lucrative business opportunity for Bay Area Concrete - thanks to Pacific Gas & Electric, the giant Northern California utility company whose electric lines had caused the conflagration. According to the countercomplaint, Kooistra denied any wrongdoing or having an interest in the companies, despite the interest being disclosed in public records. HAYWARD, CA It was a last-ditch effort to save a scofflaw business. PG&E alleges that in exchange for these kickbacks, the employees provided lucrative clean-up jobs to Hayward-based Bay Area Concrete Recycling. Under Kooistra's supervision, PG&E hired Bay Area Concrete to build a new slurry disposal center at a former Waste Management facility in Paradise. Copyright Weeklys All rights reserved. Olivero wrote that PG&E owed the company more than $14 million. ADVERTISING Advertise Legal Notices Obituaries Writing An Obituary Submit an Obituary, COMPANY INFO Job Opportunities Privacy PolicyTerms of Service, What to Include in Your Marin County Obituary. PG&E first started disposing of waste in the company's Hayward yard in 2016, and the business expanded to include the cleanup of PG&E yards throughout Northern California. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. PG&Es counterclaim, filed earlier this month, names Bay Area Concrete, both former PG&E employees, Singh, Johal, several of their other companies and Bay Area Concrete CEO Kevin Olivero as defendants. They have since only paid us a portion of that. The complaint alleges that Huggins and Kooistra approved the overbilled work in exchange for kickbacks. Two days later, Kooistra quit his job, according to the complaint. PG&E did not say how much the utility believes it was overcharged by Bay Area Concrete as it continues to investigate. The complaint alleges that Huggins and Kooistra approved the overbilled work in exchange for kickbacks. The firm was tied to illegal dumping on federally protected wetlands and had engaged in a long conflict with regulators in the city of Hayward, where Bay Area Concrete operates a dump. Anything. The Bay City News Foundation and ProPublica first reported the exchange, which one expert described as possible money laundering. Filing 1 COMPLAINT against Bay Area Concrete, LLC, Bay Area Hyrovac, LLC, PMK Contractors LLC, Preet Johal, Yadwinder Singh (Filing fee $ 402, receipt number 0971-16273295). Join Facebook to connect with Yadwinder Singh and others you may know. A subordinate is accused of having received a bribe in an unorthodox property transfer of a multimillion-dollar house in a wealthy suburb of San Francisco. The 24-year . The new court filings show that PG&E had a longer business relationship with Bay Area Concrete than previously known. "The allegations are patently false and not supported by the evidence," she said. Adding water to dirt makes it illegal to take to ordinary landfills, since dumping it can allow common pollutants like lead or hydrocarbons ?to seep into groundwater. The company, which declared bankruptcy in January 2019 after the fire, is expected to emerge from it as soon as Wednesday. PG&E alleges that Kooistra and Huggins steered PG&E contracts to Bay Area Concrete and other companies controlled by Singh and Johal. On June 16, PG&E CEO and President William Johnson pleaded guilty on behalf of the company to 84 counts of felony manslaughter and one count of failing to maintain the lines that caused the fire near Paradise, known as the Camp Fire. Internal Medicine, Nephrology, Other Specialty (7) 2 Awards . Singh did not respond to requests for comment. He provided photos showing that the concrete stockpile had grown so large it leaned against the fence between the two properties, bulging over the boundary. "This is in addition to avoiding the significant negative environmental impacts that trucking and processing these materials elsewhere in the state would have caused.". I don't know what they're going to do. PG&E alleges that Huggins was aware of Kooistas actions and did not disclose them. "As we have stated previously, PG&E will continue to hold ourselves and those that do work on our behalf to the highest ethical standards.". One supervisor for PG&E allegedly had his driveway paved on the power company's dime. By 8 a.m., local authorities issued evacuation orders for Paradise's roughly 26,000 residents. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Driven by gusts of up to 36 mph, the fire was heading straight for Paradise. PG&E did not say how much the utility believes it was overcharged by Bay Area Concrete as it continues to investigate. Filed by Bank of America N.A., and Banc of America Leasing & Capital, LLC. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The pair were careful to keep Bay Area Concretes purchase orders low enough that Huggins would not have to seek approval from his supervisors. Is the Stanley Quencher tumbler worth its TikTok hype? Circleville, OH . That business grew substantially in November 2018, when a PG&E transmission line sparked a wildfire in Butte County that destroyed more than 18,000 structures and killed 85 people. Nov 2021 - Present1 year 3 months. Responsible for early character designs and explorations for an upcoming animated TV series. The dumpsite proved its worth in October 2019, when a 77,000-acre blaze known as the Kincade fire broke out north of Santa Rosa. Dr. Yadwinder Singh is a Internist in Circleville, OH. Corporate records unearthed by the news organizations show that while the fire still burned in Paradise, an attorney for Bay Area Concrete's owners registered a limited liability company at the business address of another one of the owners' companies. T.J. Simmons, then-senior vice president of ConXtech, a neighboring business, wrote a letter to the city in 2018 to complain. Bay Area Concrete stuck around and opened a new dump on PG&E property in Petaluma. Corporate records unearthed by the news organizations reveal new details about the alleged schemes. 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Summary: How A Pg&E Contractor With A Sketchy Past Made Millions After California's Deadliest Fire, 'Zero visibility' conditions: All roads to Tahoe are closed, My meal at this landmark SF spot was too expensive to be so bad, One of the largest movie theaters in SF to close permanently, Report: Matthew McConaughey has a massive Salesforce paycheck, 'Really cool sight': Rare waterspout forms in Northern California, Horoscope for Wednesday, 3/01/23 by Christopher Renstrom, Man shot dead near San Francisco Ferry Building, A different horse': Bay Area will likely continue to see rain, 'Lady in the fridge' murder victim ID'd as Bay Area mother of 3, 'Life threatening': Tahoe braces for massive blizzard, Snow shuts down over 70 miles of I-80 in Northern California, These East Bay gems are a haven for music lovers. PG&E alleges that Huggins was aware of Kooista's actions and did not disclose them. Bay Area Concrete appealed. 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