Meet the new neighbors, Copar Quarries, Part 5

Copar’s Connecticut Track Record, and what a record it is!

By Will Collette

The new Copar operation in Charlestown. Note how close its operations
are to the Pawcatuck River

Copar Industries of Connecticut now owns two quarrying operations nearby, one in Bradford on Route 216 and the other in Charlestown on Route 91. 

The Bradford site has been a complete headache for its neighbors in Westerly and Charlestown for months, subject of dozens of federal, state and local citations for violations of environmental, safety and zoning laws, and citizen complaints and lawsuits.

The Charlestown site hasn’t caused trouble yet, but it started out by operating without a license for three months. Even though town officials knew Copar was there, operating without a license, and even though the town has officially chastised Copar for its misconduct in Bradford, Charlestown did nothing to stop Copar from expanding into Charlestown.

This 2012 close-up of the Charlestown operation, before Copar took over,
shows the mine at about 80 feet from the Pawcatuck River. Copar 
was busted at its Bradford site for wetlands violations. 
But hey, what could go wrong here?

In Parts 1 through 4, I introduced you to the four main corporate players at Copar. There’s CEO Sam Cocopard who has been busted for almost thirty financial crimes and was convicted of most of the charges. He’s currently on a suspended sentence for robbing Rhode Island’s major waste hauler Joe Vinagro of $20,000.

There’s money guy Phil Armetta, one of Connecticut’s top trash haulers, who served federal prison time. 

Phil Armetta - Copar's money guy. Photo courtesy
of Stephen Devoto, Middletown (CT) Eye News.
He specializes in putting waste sites in old quarries

There’s Chief Financial Officer Randy Roberge who was banned from the mortgage banking business by the Connecticut Banking Commissioner for leading one of the major subprime mortgage companies into bankruptcy and contributing to America’s financial collapse. 

There’s corporate Controller Daniel Thibodeau who was prosecuted by the state of Connecticut for defrauding dozens of his clients.

Maybe you’re asking yourself – as I certainly asked myself – how does a crew like this, who behave so badly in Rhode Island, behave in their own backyard? Do they draw as much heat as they have since they set up shop here?

Maybe you’re asking yourself – as I certainly asked myself – how does a crew like this accumulate the capital to operate a multi-state string of quarries and waste sites, plus operate a big, beautiful fleet of at least 30 trucks and sophisticated mining equipment?

Maybe you’re asking yourself – as I certainly asked myself – if there’s anyone in Rhode Island – in the Westerly or Charlestown Town Governments or any of the state agencies who regulate companies like Copar, that did any due diligence on them before giving them permits?

Copar’s Connecticut Track Record

I ran a Westlaw database search on Copar’s legal issues in Connecticut. I got so many hits that I had to break the data down into subcategories to make it possible to digest them. I created files for Copar lawsuits, civil judgments and tax liens against Copar and Copar's borrowing.

The files show that Copar and all its subsidiaries are sued often by a very interesting and diverse array of companies and people. More significantly, when I looked at the judgments and liens, it was also clear to me that Copar frequently loses, as courts across Connecticut have ruled in favor of people suing Copar and CEO Sam Cocopard.

I’ve spent most of my forty years researching companies and investigating their track records. I know Copar’s industry well enough to know what’s unusual and what is not. 

Based on my professional experience, I can say that based on the Westlaw records, Copar spends an unusually large amount of its time defending itself in court. They also lose a lot more often than I would expect to see.

Let’s look at the detail. Again, because of the amount of material, I am going to need two articles to cover it. In this article, I’ll show you what I found in the court records on Copar’s record in Connecticut. In the next article, we’ll take a close look at who is financing Copar’s adventures, both here in Rhode Island and in their home base in Connecticut.

Six tax liens, eight bankruptcies, 29 civil judgments – other than that, it’s all good

Here is a table that shows civil judgments and tax liens against Copar. These are settled cases: each of the 29 judgments I found represents the findings of a court that Copar and or Sam or Nancy Cocopard owed the creditor money and is ordered to pay. The six tax liens speak for themselves. Also note the frequent number of individual and corporate bankruptcies – I found eight.

Cocopard was also ordered to make restitution after each of his larceny convictions. He has been ordered to re-pay the $20,000 he was convicted in January of stealing from Rhode Island waste hauler Joe Vinagro.

And again, you have to wonder: with this record, how do they stay in business?

Tax Liens, Civil Judgments and Bankruptcies

(Sam Cocopard and Nancy Cocopardi are often named individually as a co-debtors)

Date	Creditor	Debtor	Amount	NOTES
06/01/93	Hesco Inc	Sam Cocopardi[1]	$658
04/20/95	Bankruptcy, Chap. 7	Sam Cocopardi
10/04/99	Bankruptcy, Chap. 13	Sam Cocopardi
12/17/99	Bankruptcy, Chap. 13	Sam Cocopardi
09/06/00	Bankruptcy, Chap. 13	Sam Cocopardi
03/07/03	State of Connecticut	Copar Construction	$1,149	State tax lien
03/18/03	Charles A. Regulbuto	Sam Cocopard	$1,232
06/06/03	IRS	Nancy Cocopardi	$36,797	Federal tax lien, released 5/24/04
06/09/03	Bankruptcy, Chap. 13	Nancy Cocopardi
06/24/03	Tyler Equipment	Copar Construction	n/a
06/26/03	Town of Chester	Nancy Cocopardi	$1,940	Town Tax lien
07/15/03	Bankruptcy, Chap. 7	Cocopardi Equipment
10/06/03	Keystone Equipment	Nancy Cocopardi	n/a
10/17/03	Journal-Inquirer	Copar Construction	$265	Newspaper
10/29/03	Reliable Oil LLC	Copar Construction	$1568	Names Nancy Cocopardi
11/03/03	Fleet Nat’l Bank	Copar Construction	n/a
11/18/03	Michael Donnelly Falcon’s Cry Fund	Copar Corporation	$1,621	Charity for scholarships founded by disabled (now deceased) Iraq War hero
12/05/03	B. Gluck Trucking	Copar Construction	n/a
12/15/03	Bankruptcy	Nancy Cocopardi
04/14/04	Day Publishing	Copar Construction	$3,451	Newspaper
10/18/04	MRC Receivables	Sam Cocopard	$2,971
05/11/05	IRS	Nancy Cocopardi	$5,450	Federal tax lien
07/14/05	B. Gluck Trucking	Copar Construction	$2,393
07/14/05	Anchor Engineering	Copar Construction	$2,393
07/29/05	Marvin Morgenbesser	Copar Construction	n/a
11/21/05	Fuss & O’Neill	Copar Earth Products	$2.391
01/23/06	IRS	Copar Earth Products	$507	Federal tax lien
02/02/06	Day Publishing	Copar Earth Products	$3,502	newspaper
07/18/06	Central Auto & Transport	Copar Earth Products	$4,109
10/19/06	Manchester Medical Supply	Copar Earth Products	n/a
11/20/06	IRS	Copar Earth Products	$64	Federal tax lien
03/09/06	United Rentals	Copar Construction	$1,207
07/17/06	Erin Capital Management	Copar Construction	$730	They buy other companies’ bad debts and then go after the debtor
08/18/06	Julie Brink	Copar Construction	n/a
10/25/06	JME Enterprises	Copar Construction	n/a
02/27/07	WI Clark Co.	Copar Construction	n/a
06/09/09	DiCesare Bentley Engineers	Sam Cocopard	$5,035
11/06/09	Robert Half Int’l	Copar Corporation	n/a	Temp agency
06/08/10	Capital One Bank	Sam Cocopard	$670
02/11/10	Matthew Donovan	Copar Corporation	n/a
08/27/10	Portfolio Recovery Associates	Samuel Cocopard	$7,167
6/27/12	Cavalry SPV I	Samuel Cocopard	$1,271

I noted the three instances where Copar stiffed a local newspaper. It’s not very often that I see companies with controversial track records like Copar stiff a newspaper since that doesn’t help the company very much when it has public relations problems. 

Copar's ad in the Westerly Sun. They
took this ad out BEFORE they had a
Charlestown business license

Copar took out ads recently in the Westerly Sun (right). I am eagerly waiting to see whether the Sun joins the list of newspapers taking Copar to court as a deadbeat.

All of these civil judgments, tax liens and bankruptcies cast a serious cloud over Sam Cocopard and his business dealings. 

When you also add in his life of crime, busted on almost thirty different financial crimes and currently serving a suspended sentence for robbing Joe Vinagro of $20,000, it makes you wonder how Cocopard has been able to put together the capital to launch and even expand the Copar empire.

After all, the information I’ve used in this series of articles are all public records available to any researcher who knows how to do due diligence.

In the next article, we’ll take a close look at whose money is bankrolling Sam Cocopard and the Copar enterprises.

FOOTNOTE

[1] Sam Cocopard and his wife Nancy used to routinely go by the name “Cocopardi.” I did not find a legal record indicating a formal change of name, but in recent years, the “I” at the end of his name disappeared. 

Many of their businesses are in Nancy’s name. Others are in Sam’s. It is also unclear whether they are still married. Nancy filed for divorce on March 28, 2005, but that petition was withdrawn on March 23, 2006. I found no subsequent Family Court filings