In an alleged scheme dating back months, perhaps years, sheriff's office investigators said several workers at the Douglas County landfill conspired to give free passes to some haulers, or under-count others' weight to skim profits they could pocket for themselves.Seven people, including five county workers, are now charged in this case.Mark Helmberger, 53, Anahi Lara, 24, Mark Huntley, 68, James Sudyka, Suzanne Swanson, 36, Gary Cooper, 63, Hector Flores, 43, were arrested Thursday. All are charged with criminal conspiracy to commit a felony and theft by unlawful taking, $1,500 to $5,000.Read the full affidavit hereAt the landfill, haulers are weighed as they go in and again as they leave. A fee is calculated based on the difference. According to court filings, investigators allege the group allowed manipulation of the numbers to under-weigh some landfill clients. In other cases, haulers were allowed to either pay cash up front, or simply dump for free."If the scale house employees are fixing the books so instead of 50 tons of garbage coming in, 20 tons came in and they're pocketing the cash for the difference," Douglas County Sheriff's Capt. Eric Sellers said."He's my guy" was allegedly the code word used to signal to other scale house workers that a hauler would not be charged for a landfill visit."I don't know how it started, but again they were tied into this as far as they knew they could bring in their load dump for a reduced cost which they did on a regular basis," Sellers said.Waste Management manages the landfill, but Douglas County operates the scale house that processes the fees. According to a court affidavit, a company analyst estimated that Waste Management may have lost as much as $350,000 over a three year period. One worker suspected in the case told investigators he'd given discounts to haulers as far back as 2007.Another said they thought the scheme had been going on since 1995.The affidavit alleges over a three-month period in 2020, employees lowered fees for one hauler 336 times, resulting in a loss of around $8,800.That hauler and others told investigators they knew they were getting discounts, but never knew why.Another hauler acknowledged receiving "frequent and substantial discounts" at the landfill. He said employee James Sudyka allegedly "started asking him for cash at the inbound window and provided receipts... for amounts less than the cash amount paid."Sudyka told investigators he let some haulers dump for free saying he "had to do it that way to keep the line moving fast enough."The affidavit also recounts one instance where an employee needed money for a car. According to the document, Mark Huntley allegedly took the "scale house cash reserve" and left it in the back room.Later, employee Anahi Lara stayed after her shift, and left with a role of cash in her hand. She purchased a 2015 Ford Escort for $7,750 and paid in cash.Another employee said money left in the background was considered a "tip".Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine says the victims are those who operate the landfill."There are several victims too. The county's a victim, the land owner's a victim, Waste Management, State of Nebraska so we'll sort that out," Kleine said. Kleine also said it still comes down to taxpayer dollars getting pocketed. "There's still a question of how much the total might be," he said.