The owner of American Crushing & Recycling – the trucking company under investigation for its involvement in a July crash in Avon, CT, that killed four people – did not show up in court Tuesday, Oct. 4.

David Wilcox had been ordered by Superior Court Judge Vanessa Bryant to appear in court and bring the company’s financial records with him.

The Hartford Courant reported that when he failed to appear, Bryant put the company in receivership, which means that an outside lawyer has been appointed to oversee its assets.

Though Bryant declined to find Wilcox in contempt of court, the Courant reported that she was surprised at his absence.

“I am stunned that Mr. Wilcox is not present,” she said. “It certainly does substantiate the claims of the plaintiffs in these actions that he is flouting the order of this court and that he is in serious jeopardy of being found in contempt of this court.”

American Crushing & Recycling has been under investigation since the July 29 crash. And Wilcox has been charged with attempting to sell off some of the company’s trucks, even though the trucks had been put out of service.

Delbert Cornell, chief of the state DMV’s commercial vehicle safety division, suspended the company’s 10 trucks Sept. 21. Five of the trucks were immediately put out of service for numerous violations, including brake defects, steering problems and flat tires, the Courant reported.

WFSB-TV, a Hartford-based CBS affiliate, reported that when investigators arrived at the company’s headquarters in Bloomfield early in the week of Sept. 25, three of the trucks were missing. Wilcox allegedly had the trucks driven off of the premises with dealer plates, claiming they had passed re-inspection.

Bryant froze the company’s assets Sept. 28.