Joe Karolys, who has sparred in court with the town of Saugerties over his acceptance of construction and demolition material from downstate and faces criminal charges related to that now-shuttered operation, is in even deeper doo-doo.
After, town police said, making off with a dump truck full of stolen manure from Beaver Kill Farms on 431 Shear Road in Saugerties on the afternoon of March 5, Karolys tore up a portion of the homeowner’s yard and, after he pulled out onto the roadway, sideswiped a vehicle as he fled police that were responding to the larceny call. According to police, the occupant of the struck vehicle wasn’t injured.
A source close to the matter said that Karolys, who lives on one of his dump sites at 1446 Route 212 and owns two more at 33/43 Fel Qui Road and 90 Goat Hill Road, surrendered himself at police headquarters on Monday, March 9. According to the source, police had made multiple attempts to contact his attorney, Melvin T. Higgins. Higgins did not respond to a request for comment.
On Facebook in recent weeks, Karolys had posted two requests for manure. One post read, “Manure wanted: Bull S–t, Chicken S–t, Horse S–t, Sheep S–t, etc. If you have large quantities of manure, I can bring a loader to load my trucks. If it’s mixed with hay, straw or sawdust that is fine. Must be close to Saugerties.”
According to police, Karolys, 35, was charged with three misdemeanors in connection with the incident — petit larceny, fourth-degree criminal mischief and leaving the scene of a property damage auto accident. After processing, he was released with an appearance ticket for town court for April 1.
“It appears to me that [Karolys] feels that he’s above the law and he seems to push the envelope every opportunity he gets,” said Police Chief Joe Sinagra on Tuesday, March 10. “He hasn’t been dumping in Saugerties. We’ve been trying to keep an eye the best he can on all three properties. … He has been working on [remediating] those properties, he has not brought in any new loads.”
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