Steel Mills

Subcontractors for USS Stole~$2M of Scrap: Police

Written by Ethan Bernard

October 18, 2023

Subcontractors for U.S. Steel in northwest Indiana stole ~20 million pounds of scrap valued at ~$2 million over a two-year period, according to local police.

The subcontractors diverted slitter scrap from a U.S. Steel facility in Portage, Ind., that was supposed to be delivered to the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker’s nearby Gary Works steel mill, a detective for the Portage Police Department told SMU on Tuesday. The detective asked to remain anonymous.

U.S. Steel’s Midwest Plant is in Portage, which is about 10 miles from Gary, Ind. The plant functions as a finishing facility for Gary Works. It makes tin-mill products as well as hot-dripped galvanized, cold-rolled, and electrical lamination steels, according to U.S. Steel’s website.

The slitter scrap was instead sold to a local Portage recycling facility. The detective declined to name the yard because of an ongoing investigation.

The police received a report in August 2022 about a load of stolen scrap metal. Police subsequently found other loads had been stolen as far back as August 2020, according to an article in the Times of Northwest Indiana on Monday. Six men have been arrested and charged with felonies.

“U.S. Steel takes the ethical conduct of its employees and contractors very seriously,” a U.S. Steel spokeswoman said in a statement to SMU.

The company is cooperating fully with investigators. “We will continue to examine potential areas of fraud and misconduct and aggressively pursue those engaging in such activity,” she said.

Ethan Bernard

Ethan Bernard is a reporter and editor for Steel Market Update. He previously worked for American Metal Market as a copy editor in the New York office for two years starting in 2008. Later, he copy edited AMM’s monthly magazine on a freelance basis from 2015 until 2017. With experience in financial copywriting and textbook publishing, he holds a BA in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley, and an MFA. in Creative Writing from New York University. He can be reached at ethan@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7871.

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