TRENTON
— Vaughn L. McKoy, Director, Division
of Criminal Justice, announced that the
former owner of a Millville dry cleaning
business has pleaded guilty to abandoning
hazardous chemicals and solvents inside
the defunct store-front property and has
been ordered to pay nearly $30,000 in
fines and clean-up costs.
Director McKoy said that W. Scott Sheppard,
36, Debbie Lane, Millville, the former
owner of the defunct Millville Laundry,
pleaded guilty before Cumberland County
Superior Court Judge Richard Geiger to
the unlawful storage of hazardous waste.
As a result of the guilty plea, Sheppard
was ordered to pay a $25,000 criminal
penalty and to reimburse the New Jersey
Department of Environmental Protection
and the New Jersey Spill Fund more than
$9,000 in clean-up costs. The sentence
was imposed on March 11.
McKoy noted that Sheppard and his company,
the former Millville Laundry & Dry
Cleaning, located at 26-28 West McNeal
St., Millville, Cumberland County, was
charged via a State Grand Jury indictment
with the unlawful storage of hazardous
waste. The indictment charged that Sheppard
abandoned hazardous dry cleaning solvents
inside the property when the business
closed in September, 2000. After responding
to a Feb. 23, 2004 fire at the abandoned
building, local fire officials uncovered
the abandoned drums of dry cleaning chemicals
and solvents, including large quantities
of tetrachloroethene.
The investigation and prosecution by the
Division of Criminal Justice - Environmental
Crimes Bureau, was part of the New Jersey
Attorney General’s Urban Environmental
Initiative which is geared to the response,
investigation, and prosecution of environmental
crimes in urban, suburban and rural communities
and industrial areas. The Initiative targets
criminal activity such as the illegal
dumping of construction debris and other
solid waste, illegal discharges of pollutants
into waterways and the air, and other
activities which negatively impact the
quality of life for residents in local
neighborhoods and communities.
In 2004, the Division of Criminal Justice
- Environmental Crimes Bureau obtained
17 criminal indictments, guilty pleas
and/or Accusations charging 24 individuals
or corporations with illegal acts ranging
from the intentional discharge of hazardous
and potentially toxic wastewater into
public waterways, to the illegal dumping
of thousands of tires in environmentally
sensitive areas, to discharging contaminated
wastes near residential communities, to
abandoning trailers full of solid waste
and construction debris in urban neighborhoods.
The Environmental Crimes Bureau has also
collected more than $600,000 in fines
and restitution.
The investigation and indictment was coordinated
by Deputy Attorney General Bruce Kmosko
and Supervising State Investigator Jeffrey
Gross assigned to the Division of Criminal
Justice - Environmental Crimes Bureau.
The key to the successful enforcement
initiative against illegal dumpers must
include the “eyes and ears”
of neighborhood residents and community
watch groups reporting suspicious activities.
The DEP maintains a 24-Hour Environmental
Hot Line -- 609- 292-7172
-- to receive reports of environmental
crimes. Information regarding environmental
enforcement activities can be obtained
by logging on to the Division of Criminal
Justice Web page at www.njdcj.org
or the Department of Environmental Protection
web page at www.nj.gov/dep.
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