Corrections & Clarifications: A previous version of this article incorrectly described the outcome of a 2017 civil lawsuit. A Kansas jury found Jacob Gitman and two business partners had committed fraud.

The article also gave an incorrect description of the plant's output. It's expected to process 10 million pounds of scrap aluminum a month.

WENDEN – In the century since Europeans settled this valley between two western Arizona mountain ranges, the area has attracted farms, ranches and winter visitors.

A proposal to build an aluminum smelting facility amid the farm fields and dusty pastures along the highway connecting Wenden and Salome would bring a new industry to the area — one that aims to process 10 million pounds of scrap aluminum a month.

Florida-based Technocon International, which operates as Alliance Metals, is touting the investment and jobs it will bring to the area. Residents, meanwhile, fear it will also bring a host of problems, including pollution and traffic that would drastically alter the area. Plus, they have questions about the business owners' backgrounds.

"I’ve heard everything from the Russian mafia is the one doing this to we’re all going to die within six months as soon as that plant is up and operating … It’s pretty doggone negative,” said Susan Sewell, board member and treasurer of the McMullen Valley Chamber of Commerce.

In April, Alliance Metals sought approval for the project from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, outlining in a 50-page air quality application how the plant would use a "baghouse" to limit emissions of lead, methane, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, volatile organic compounds and other dangerous pollutants.

But those assurances haven't convinced many residents. A popular community Facebook group has for months been filled with discussion of the plant and worries about its impact on air quality and town aesthetics, property values and traffic.

“This thing is being rammed down our throats. We didn’t want this. Nobody asked for these people to come here,” said Rande Wolters, who owns the Westward Motel in Salome. “Up until now, we’ve had no voice in this whatsoever.”

A 30-day public comment period began on July 31 after ADEQ released the plant’s draft permit. If the facility receives state approval, it will then work with the county to either acquire a use permit for aluminum smelting on land zoned for "rural agricultural," or apply to rezone the land to "high industrial."

The company is already preparing for the go-ahead by bringing in materials to fence the property and lay concrete flooring.

Thomas Galvin, a Scottsdale-based attorney representing Alliance Metals, said the company believes the facility will be a positive development for Wenden and La Paz County, bringing 30 jobs and $10 million in capital investment.

“La Paz County should always be excited and be happy about the potential for economic growth and new jobs, provided of course that it’s environmentally friendly and it passes all the regulations and requirements by the state law and state authorities,” Galvin said. “The company just looks forward to hopefully providing years and years of great economic revenue for the county.”

But many residents say they will continue to fight the project.

'It puts everybody in jeopardy'

Larry Hancock's 160-acre property in Wenden had been for sale “on and off for a year or two” before the county contacted him about a potential buyer.

Hancock, who owns LKH Farming and acreage across the state, said he never met the Florida-based buyer in person — they communicated through email. He also had little idea what they intended to do with his former cotton gin land.

“They offered me a price and I took it,” Hancock said of the $1.5 million sale which closed in December according to county records.

The possibility of an aluminum plant was never mentioned until after the sale was finalized, he said.

According to the company's permit application, the facility would receive scrap aluminum and crush, screen and melt it into 87,600 tons of ingots and bars a year. The plant would house crushers, furnaces and other processing equipment across two buildings.

The location is “perfectly situated” near markets for aluminum products in California, Utah, Nevada and even Mexico, Galvin said.

Soon after word of the company's plan surfaced, a group of residents organized to oppose it. They were led by husband and wife Gary and DeVona Saiter. Gary heads the school board and the water district, both of which have voted unanimously against the plant. DeVona is a newly elected member of the county’s planning and zoning board.

The group's biggest concern is the threat to public safety and the valley's water supply. According to the permit application, the facility will store 30,000 gallons of liquid chlorine on-site to vaporize in the smelting process. Larry Gitman, Alliance Metals' commercial director, said this was a miscommunication, and that the facility would in fact have two 5,000-gallon chlorine tanks.

Any accident releasing that chlorine could create a lethal, “catastrophic” event, residents said.

A small-town public safety network isn't equipped to address such an emergency, Dean Lyman, a Wenden resident, said.

“It just takes one mess-up,” he said. "They gotta get lucky every day. We gotta get lucky every day that they don’t mess up.”

Others are also concerned about how pollutants could impact human health. Wolters said he has spent the last three years fighting cancer and is concerned about the plant's emissions.

“The last thing I need is for someone to come to where I've built my little empire and pollute the valley," he said.

Gitman wrote in an email to The Arizona Republic that new technology has made aluminum smelting facilities very safe. Frequent permits and certification would ensure the plant remains in compliance with safety and environmental requirements.

"It is common to see these types of facilities near communities and schools as they are NOT considered noxious or unsafe," he wrote.

Residents also note that the valley draws all its water from a single aquifer that spans 512 square miles. They fear that if chemicals leach into the groundwater it could put the supply at risk.

Lyman recalled that when the town had slightly elevated levels of arsenic in the water, it took 15 years and a significant expense to fix the problem.

“If something should happen ... and that aquifer is contaminated, it means there are no people and no agriculture in this valley forever because it takes over a thousand years to replenish that aquifer,” Gary Saiter said. “I don’t see where that risk is worth it for a few extra tax dollars and a few extra jobs. It just isn’t worth that risk, because it puts everybody in jeopardy.”

Gitman in his email wrote that water contamination won't be an issue. Aluminum products at the facility will be stored on concrete pads and in sealed containers, not on the ground where chemicals might seep into the aquifer.

On 'main street'

Another concern for residents is the project's proposed site: on Highway 60 between Wenden and Salome.

It's the communities' “main street,” and most important area for growth, said DeVona Saiter. Instead of heavy industry, it should have community-oriented businesses like shops and services, she said.

Brenda Parkerson, who has lived in Wenden for 35 years and runs an antique car business across the street from the proposed plant, points to pecan and pistachio orchards and free-ranging cattle that surround the site.

“I would hate to see something caustic come into our community, for number one, and I would hate to see it right across the street,” Parkerson said. “It would be catastrophic."

Wolters is concerned it would drive away tourists and winter residents, taking away business from his motel and the towns more broadly.

“We need to rely on tourism and not industrial in this valley,” Wolters said. “It would have the potential to destroy our snowbirds — our winter business — which is everything in Salome.”

Kim Rabon and her husband are winter residents of the valley. They bought four acres in Salome three years ago with the hope of eventually retiring to the area. They were building a “tiny house” but put those plans on hold until they see what happens with the smelter.

“We don’t want to live near a smelter, especially not one right in our back yard,” Rabon said.

Sewell, the McMullen Valley Chamber of Commerce board member, said the chamber supports all businesses but hasn't taken a position on the aluminum plant.

“We don’t take a pro or anti stance, especially in something as controversial as this,” Sewell said.

Personally, Sewell is in favor of it. She trusts the environmental permitting process and sees the project boosting employment and expanding the tax base.

“Everybody else seems to think it’s going to change the nature of our community. I don’t see that happening,” she said.

'I’ve heard everything'

Residents' concerns have been magnified by suspicions about the owners of Technocon and Alliance Metals and how and why they chose their small, out-of-the-way town.

There were no fliers, public notices or meetings to discuss the project, they say. A notice was published in the county newspaper, but few in Wenden and Salome receive the publication. Most learned of the plan through word of mouth.

They are uneasy that the La Paz Economic Development Corporation, a non-county entity with an official-sounding name, did most of the communicating with Alliance Metals without residents’ knowledge. And they are beginning to raise questions about the Gitmans, the father-son duo at the head of Technocon and Alliance Metals.

Sewell of the McMullen Valley Chamber of Commerce said the local rumor mill has been working overtime, especially on social media, where she's "heard everything," most of it negative.

Technocon is headed by Jacob Gitman, who is known in some legal documents as Yakov Gitman.

He was born in the Soviet Union and attended university in Moscow before moving to the United States around 1990.

Since then his name and/or the address of his condo on Florida's Bay Harbor Islands has been linked to more than 80 Florida-based companies, mainly in transportation, logistics, international telephone and health care. Many of those companies do business internationally.

About 25 other businesses, including Alliance Metals, are registered in Florida under Technocon International.

Jacob Gitman said not all of the companies are active. He said he currently manages at least 10 to 15 of them.

Jacob's son Larry Gitman handles most day-to-day operations at Alliance Metals.

Alliance Metals describes itself on its website as North America’s “premier secondary aluminum smelting company,” including owning and operating an aluminum smelter in Arizona even though it is not yet approved or opened.

Galvin said the website was in error and should say the company "will be operating" a facility in Arizona.

As far as why Alliance Metals chose Wenden, Larry Gitman said it has the required workforce and access to utilities such as gas and electricity.

Skip Becker, president and CEO of La Paz Economic Development Corporation, said he has worked for more than a year on the project because he believes it will bring new jobs and tax revenue with low environmental impact.

“You're not going to bring a project in anywhere in any place in the United States where 100% of the people are going to support it,” Becker said.

Larry Gitman added that the public will have an opportunity to weigh in.

There have been no public meetings because plans have not been finalized, he wrote in his email to The Republic. "Our team will actively engage in outreach efforts as we move through the County's public hearing process."

Public comment on the ADEQ permit will continue until Sept. 4, at which point ADEQ will host a public meeting to hear residents' views on the air quality permit. (The hearing will be at Salome's Centennial Public Library at 6 p.m on Sept. 4.)

"Our team is looking forward to educating the community on the project's facts," Larry Gitman wrote, pointing to what he called "incorrect rumors spread on social media."

But Gary Saiter, head of the resident group opposing the project, said he believes the process and the company itself are problematic.

“There’s nothing that lends itself to trust here,” he said. “Why should we trust them?”

Lawsuits and convictions

Jacob Gitman, his companies and his business associates have faced multiple lawsuits alleging fraudulent business dealings.

He dismisses concerns about his background, saying that with 40 years in business his track record is "really good."

"There are always some misunderstandings, and they result in the court," he said. "If you talk to my business associates and people I'm dealing with, I don’t think you will hear anything bad."

In 2017, a Kansas jury found Jacob Gitman and two business partners had committed fraud. The trio was accused of misleading Blizzard Energy about technology, expertise and potential profits from an operation to convert waste tires into fuel by burning them. The project failed.

Blizzard Energy was awarded $3.8 million in the case. One of the business partners, Bernd Schaefers, said they have appealed the case to Kansas's supreme court and that litigation is ongoing.

Jacob Gitman said he was “collateral damage” in a feud between business partners. He said his partners had used his patented technology, but he was not involved in the operation and only visited the plant “once or twice.” Schaefers said he understands why Gitman would feel that way, as Gitman was the head scientist but not involved in the project's management. Schaefers said Gitman was the scientific expert behind the project, which never would have happened without his input and expertise.

Gitman has, however, had other brushes with the law.

In 2010, a team of U.S. marshals raided Jacob Gitman's Kane Concourse office over suspicions his company was hiding assets related to an insurance fraud case involving State Farm, according to court documents. Jacob Gitman said State Farm never proved his company was involved, and he testified in court that due to the raid, "I obviously lost reputation with my neighbors, business associates and within the Russian community."

In another case, U.S. attorneys mentioned Gitman's Monarch Air, which contracts with the U.S. government, among other entities, to provide air transportation and aircraft management. The U.S. attorneys during the 2013 trial claimed Monarch Air and another Gitman air transport business had funneled money and drugs into the country illegally. Monarch at the time listed Jacob Gitman as a managing member and his Florida condo as its business address.

“We have stellar records with the United States government,” Jacob Gitman said of Monarch's work. “We’ve never been involved in any fraudulent activities.”

Jacob Gitman also managed until 2011 Suncoast Air Cargo with Anatoly Golubchik.

In 2014, Golubchik and his business partners were convicted of laundering $100 million as part of a "Russian-American organized crime ring" and a "racketeering conspiracy” involving primarily Russian and Ukrainian individuals and various shell companies. Golubchik and others were also convicted of operating an “international organized crime group” that engaged in “an illegal gambling business, money laundering, extortion, and other crimes” including drug transport. Golubchik was sentenced to five years in prison.

Jacob Gitman said Golubchik was named as a manager of the business because of his investment in Suncoast Air Cargo but that Golubchik wasn't involved in its operations. He said Golubchik made his investment in 2007 or 2008 and had separated from the company before his conviction in 2014.

“It’s something between him and the government,” Jacob Gitman said. “It’s not for me to make a judgment.”

In 2018, the Federal Trade Commission alleged Hylan Asset Management had operated an “abusive debt collection” scheme by marketing fraudulent loans and harassing customers to pay fake debts. One of Gitman’s companies was an investor in the scheme, ultimately funding the fake debt operation claimed to have robbed customers of millions of dollars by demanding debt payments they did not owe. The debt collectors and the FTC and New York Attorney General settled the case in July, with the defendants permanently banned from future debt collecting.

"One of my companies also fell victim of this fraud,” Jacob Gitman said of his involvement. “We had no idea what really went on there, and we lost almost all the money we invested.”

Currently, Jacob Gitman and several business associates and related companies are embroiled in a legal battle involving a foreign limited partnership, “E.R. Troika,” and a Kazakh airline. The lawsuit, which involves 30 parties, claims that Gitman and other defendants, including his companies, siphoned millions of dollars for personal use through air transportation contracts, including nearly $8 million that Jacob Gitman’s airline group allegedly failed to pay E.R. Troika.

“They’re absolutely baseless allegations against us,” Jacob Gitman said.

Gitman's wife Alisa is a real estate agent for Sib Realty, which sells condos at multiple Trump properties in Florida.

​​Larry Gitman noted that he is proud of Technocon and Alliance Metals' business records.

"No one involved in our project has been arrested nor convicted of any crimes," he wrote in his email to The Republic. He characterized the company's leadership as "extremely knowledgeable professionals" who have worked in aluminum "for many years."

'Hell to pay'

Some residents said they're not opposed to the plant in principle and would welcome additional jobs and tax revenue, but want it built far from schools, agriculture and water facilities.

“We have always looked forward to some sort of development in some regard, but not of this nature," Wolters said, adding that he loves recycling and would approve of the facility in an "isolated" place.

Others aren't looking for a compromise, saying they hope to halt the project when the business applies for zoning permitting from the county. Their goal is to force the company to sell the land and give up on Wenden.

“I almost see us to a point of getting groups together to go protest the thing if we have to,” Salome resident Gary Zakrajsek said.

Lyman said he and several other residents have been praying about the issue every day. If the plant is approved there will likely be lawsuits and protests, he said.

“We want to see people held accountable,” Lyman said. “If this thing goes through, there’s going to be hell to pay.”

Larry O’Daniel, who has had family in Wenden since 1979, said opposition to the plant has united Wenden and Salome residents.

“Very few things have brought as many people together who disagree on so much else, as the smelter,” he said.

He sees it as an existential threat to the community. If the project succeeds, it will draw other industrial facilities, completely changing life in McMullen Valley.

“It’s the several others that are going to follow them into the community that are going to have their high, heavy industry outfit here,” Lyman said. "Pretty soon you’ll have Gary, Indiana, or Flint, Michigan — you can just go down the list of all these cities that are just horrifically polluted."