Vol. 15 Issue No. 10 | March 11 - 17, 2009

A to Z Moving uses Jewel of the Creek as dump site

By Linda Bentley | March 11, 2009

‘I find this kind of thing reprehensible – absolutely lazy and disgusting’

CAVE CREEK – Justin Gibbons, 20, appeared before Cave Creek Municipal Court Judge George Preston last Wednesday to be arraigned on an illegal dumping charge.
Gibbons blurted out, “I just want to take responsibility.”

Preston asked, “You were dumping material in Spur Cross Preserve?”

Gibbons said, “I just drove up as far as I could go. It was just an act of stupidity.”
He pled guilty to a class one misdemeanor as Preston asked Town Marshal Adam Stein to provide a factual basis for the charge.

Stein said the evidence was found at the entrance to Jewel of the Creek and Gibbons, a principal owner of A to Z Moving, was paid to remove and dispose of the items for a customer.

Gibbons was also cited for not having a business license.

Stein told Preston the town was also seeking restitution in the amount of $678 for the cleanup.

While the illegal dumping occurred in January, it took Stein some time to track Gibbons down.

Spur Cross Conservation Area (SCCA) Supervisor John Gunn called Stein at around 10 a.m. on Jan. 20 to tell him about a large pile of debris that had been illegally dumped at the entrance to the Jewel of the Creek Preserve located within SCCA. Gunn reported seeing two males leaving the area where the material was dumped in a white American-made pickup truck, pulling a trailer.

Unable to locate the vehicle, Stein resorted to inspecting the debris and found a potential clue on a brown cardboard box, a United Parcel Service Ground Tracking Number.
UPS tracked the cardboard box’s original owner to Premier Mortgage on 24th Street in Phoenix.

When he called Premier, Stein learned a woman had recently hired A to Z Moving, which she described as a “horrible move,” providing Stein with the details.

The woman identified, through photos, the illegally dumped items as those Gibbons agreed to dispose of for her.

Appalled that he improperly disposed of her trash in a nature preserve, she agreed to assist in prosecuting Gibbons “to the fullest the law will allow.”

On Feb. 27, Stein contacted Gibbons to say he was conducting a criminal investigation and his name had come up as a person of interest.

Gibbons agreed to be interviewed by Stein and met him at the Cave Creek Marshal’s Office on March 2.

Admitting he owned a white Ford F-150 pickup truck and a trailer, Gibbons told Stein, “Me and my buddy own a moving company that we operate out of my buddy’s house here in Cave Creek,” which he stated was “behind the new shopping center, past the car wash,” and identified the name of their company as A to Z Moving.

Stein said the reason he called Gibbons there was to talk about his illegal dumping and if he had a good explanation for doing what he did.

“What is it you think I did?” asked Gibbons.

Stein responded, “Justin, I think that you’re a guy who made a stupid mistake. I can easily charge you with a felony and be done with this, or you can give me some reasonable explanation and I will decide whether or not to file a misdemeanor charge instead of a felony charge.”

Gibbons said his trailer was loaded when he received a call from a client and needed to get the stuff unloaded right away so he could do that job. He said, “I was stupid and wasn’t thinking,” when asked why he didn’t just unload the stuff at his buddy’s house.

Stein then asked, “In the entire town of Cave Creek, what would possibly possess you to drive to the nature preserve to dump garbage?”

Gibbons said it was deserted and he didn’t realize it was a nature preserve.

When Stein said he and his partner could be criminally charged, since both are principals of A to Z Moving, Gibbons pleaded, “Please don’t charge Sameer sir, he had no idea what I was doing … Sameer didn’t even know I was doing it.”

Stein told Gibbons he appreciated his “honesty and candor” and said he would file a misdemeanor charge for the illegal dumping plus a civil charge for not having a business license.

Preston wasn’t so appreciative, however, and said, “I find this kind of thing reprehensible – absolutely lazy and disgusting.”

He fined Gibbons $250 in court costs; sentenced him to 80 hours of community service; ten days in jail, suspending the ten days providing he completes his community service; placed him on one year supervised probation under Stein; and ordered him to pay $678 restitution to the town.

“I would not like to see you ever again after this fiasco,” said Preston, adding, “Please do not darken our doors.”

On his business license application, Gibbons stated 7411 E. Horizon Drive, Cave Creek as A to Z’s business address.

However, A to Z’s address is registered with the Arizona Corporation Commission as 7470 E. Camino Rayo De Luz, Scottsdale.

For starters, there is no such address as 7411 E. Horizon Drive and if there were, it would be located in Carefree.

And Sameer’s last name appears to be Aslam, not Aslan, as registered with the ACC. Aslam is 19 and resides at the Camino Rayo De Luz address, a $605,436 patio home located behind the Summit shopping center owned by Kristin Soraya, although a reverse directory lookup reveals Saeed Aslam lives at that address.

So, it appears Gibbons may not have been so honest and candid after all in certifying the information he provided on his business license application being “true and correct.”

False reporting of information to a law enforcement officer or the town is also a class one misdemeanor.

Courtesy Photo/John Gunn:
Justin Gibbons, co-owner of A to Z Moving, pled stupidity in court last Wednesday after Town Marshal Adam Stein tracked him down and cited him for illegally dumping his customer’s trash at the entrance to Jewel of the Creek in Spur Cross Conservation Area instead of the dump.