Man pleads guilty in Clay County recycling plant scam

MANCHESTER, Ky. (AP) – An official with a defunct company has admitted to helping steal $1.32 million from a construction company through false claims about construction of a recycling factory in Manchester.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports (http://bit.ly/1RXQfNo) David R. Bennett pleaded guilty Tuesday to one charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Bennett was a manager of Waste Not Technologies, and told local officials in 2009 that the company would build a recycling factory in Manchester.

Bennett’s plea says he hired Elza Construction to do work at the factory site. Bennett and others got Elza to pay $1.32 million as a guarantee that the company could complete the job.

Bennett told Elza that the company had the money to repay Elza. Instead, Bennett and others took the money.

Waste Not Technologies never built the factory, and Elza never got its money back.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.