I thought you all might like this....
.c The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) - Two guys drive from New York with thousands of
used cans and bottles to cash in on Michigan's 10-cent return for
each container, tops in the nation.
It's a familiar scenario for ``Seinfeld'' buffs, who watched
Kramer and Newman botch such a run in a 1996 episode of the NBC
sitcom. Two New York men apparently thought they could accomplish
what the TV characters could not.
John Mocombe, 28, and Adam Ilnickij, 46, were arraigned Thursday
on felony counts of false pretenses over $100. They were being held
in the Macomb County jail and face up to 10 years in jail and a
$5,000 fine if convicted.
They were arrested after allegedly feeding a bottle return
machine for about three hours Wednesday night. The machines accept
certain cans or bottles and print out receipts redeemable at
grocery checkout stands.
The law requires the containers to be from Michigan, though the
machines apparently don't differentiate.
Police said the containers they recovered from the New Yorkers
were marked for deposit by other states or had no marking. They
said the men had already cashed in or had receipts saved worth
about $800 - some 8,000 containers.
A search of their 10-foot moving van (Kramer and Newman had a
mail truck ) found 35 giant trash bags of bottles and cans, police
said.
Ilnickij told police that he and his friends buy empty cans from
New York City's homeless at 5 cents for two containers. Michigan's
bottle-return rate - offered as a recycling incentive - is twice
that of any other state.
Law enforcement officials said they suspect the men have been
trucking in containers since at least July 31, when Mocombe rented
the van.
AP-NY-10-03-97 0600EDT
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prior written authority of The Associated Press.