Company, drivers fined in illegal dumping case
A company and four drivers charged with illegally dumping solid waste in the Ulster County town of Rochester have all pleaded guilty and been fined, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Modern Leasing Inc., doing business as Dump Masters Services, was charged on July 11, 2019, and pleaded guilty on March 4, 2020, to a felony charge and two misdemeanor counts of unlawful disposal of solid waste.
Modern Leasing was ordered to pay fines totaling $112,500, according to a press release from the Department of Environmental Conservation.
The company initially was charged with endangering public health, safety and the environment, a felony, and multiple misdemeanor counts of unlawful disposal of solid waste in excess of 70 cubic yards and 10 cubic yards. according to the state agency.
Drivers James Spoto, Anthony Daniels, Juan Cosme and Franklin Delarosa were charged on May 31, 2017, with unlawful disposal of solid waste in excess of 10 cubic yards, a misdemeanor. Each driver pleaded guilty on Dec. 4, 2019, and was fined $1,500 apiece, according to the DEC’s Wendy Rosenbach.
In May 2017, DEC officers saw a truck dumping waste at a residence in the town of Rochester and followed the truck, which was filled with debris from an illegal construction and demolition site on Long Island, the department said in a press release.
Test samples from the Rochester site found “significant amounts of coal ash and slag, which is only permitted at licensed landfills,” the department said.
In addition, chemical analysis showed the presence of “acutely hazardous substances that violated [New York’s] Environmental Conservation Law,” the press release stated.