A Cortlandt landscaping executive has appealed recent bribery and wire fraud convictions but first he has to put up nearly $2.7 million.
U.S. District Judge Vincent L. Briccetti approved a deal on July 17 where Glenn Griffin, owner and president of Griffin Landscaping Corp., and federal prosecutors stipulated that Griffin’s monetary penalties could be frozen pending appeal of his convictions.
Judge Briccetti ordered Griffin to pay $2,670,200 in restitution, forfeiture and fines when he sentenced Griffin to prison.
From 2018 to early 2020, Griffin paid cash bribes to Town of Cortlandt official Robert Dyckman to dump illegal materials at a town facility on Arlo Lane. Dyckman made sure no one else was around when large trucks emptied concrete, cement with rebar, tiles, bricks, rocks and soil at the site. Then the town paid Griffin to haul away the very materials his trucks had dumped on town property.
Griffin also rigged bids for $133,000 in contracts with Croton-on-Hudson and Verplank. He submitted high bids for businesses he had no connection to, so that the bids for his own business would be competitive.
Last year, Griffin pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
On June 11, judge Briccetti sentenced Griffin, 56, to two years in prison and three year of supervision after his release from prison. He ordered Griffin to pay $52,000 in fines; forfeit $220,000; and pay $2.4 million in restitution. Half of the restitution goes to the Town of Cortlandt and half to the Westchester Land Trust, the owner of damaged wetlands next to the dump site.
Griffin appealed his conviction on June 18.
Prosecutors Melissa A. Childs, David R. Felton and James F. McMahon demanded that Griffin either post an appeal bond or deposit funds to cover monetary penalties.
Griffin agreed on July 10 to pay $2.45 million to the Clerk of Court to cover the restitution and fines, and to forfeit $220,000 to the United States Marshal’s Service.
The Clerk of Court will put the money in an interest-bearing account, and the Marshall’s Service will put its share in a Seized Asset Deposit Fund, while the case is appealed.
Upon proof of payment, the government will not enforce the monetary penalties until the conclusion of the appeal.
Griffin also asked the court to postpone his Sept. 11 surrender date to the federal Bureau of Prisons, pending appeal. Judge Briccetti agreed on July 22 to consider the request.
Griffin’s co-defendant, Robert Dyckman, was convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud. On May 20, Judge Briccetti ordered him to pay $2.4 million in restitution and sentenced him to one year and a day in prison. He is imprisoned in Waymart, Pennsylvania.
