DRIVER CHARGED
N.J. MAN BUSTED IN 4,000-GALLON GASOLINE SPILL IN BROOKHAVEN:
BROOKHAVEN » The driver of a fuel truck has been criminally charged with allegedly intentionally dumping more than 4,000 gallons of gasoline into a wooded area next to Coebourn Elementary School last month, District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer announced at a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
George Smith, 36, of the 800 block of Mill Road in Vineland, N.J., is facing 11 counts – eight of them felonies – for the June 11 spill, including violations of state environmental laws, causing and risking a catastrophe, and reckless endangerment.
“As a fuel delivery driver, the defendant was entrusted with a hazardous product – gasoline – and he owed a duty of care to all of us,” said Stollsteimer. “He chose self-interest over the safety of the Brookhaven community and the safety of the children at Coebourn Elementary School.”
Deputy District Attorney Douglas Rhoads indicated that if convicted, Smith could potentially be facing decades behind bars under statutory maximum sentences for the charges.
Stollsteimer described the spill as an environmental catastrophe, the total cost of which is still unknown. The incredible amount of gasoline pumped down an embankment next to the station killed fix, turtles, eels and other wildlife, including at least one red fox, contaminated the school grounds and a nearby reservoir, and forced the elementary school to close during its final week of the 2020-21 school year.
The spill occurred while Smith was making a delivery to the Gas N Go located at 4612 Edgemont Ave., according to an affidavit of probable cause for his arrest written by Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division Detective Steven Cortese.
Smith was making deliveries that day as a driver for Elmer, N.J.-based Lee Transport Systems, according to the affidavit. Calls to Lee for comment Tuesday were not returned, but Stollsteimer said the company has fully cooperated with the investigation and is not being held criminally liable for the alleged actions of its employee.
A general manager for the company who spoke to Cortese and fellow county Detective Christopher Sponaugle in June indicated Smith had been given a list of four fuel delivery locations to visit the night of the spill.
The Gas N Go was listed as the fourth location, but Stollsteimer said Smith for some reason decided to visit that location first, at about 10:12 p.m. Records showed Smith had a full tank at that time, having obtained 1,000 gallons of premium and 7,500 gallons of regular gasoline from the Twin Oaks Terminal in Aston, according to the affidavit.
Detectives spoke with another driver who had made a delivery to the Gas N Go earlier that day and who allegedly said he encountered no problems while refilling the tanks. Investigators also confirmed the station’s tanks did not overflow, but because there had already been a delivery to the Gas N Go earlier, the affidavit says, Smith was unable to deliver the entirety of his full truck to that location.
Stollsteimer said the tanks at the Gas N Go are equipped with an alarm system that triggers when they reach 90% capacity. According to the affidavit, Smith was only able to deliver 1,573 gallons to the premium tank and 2,872 gallons to two regular gasoline tanks before that alarm tripped.
Detectives recovered video surveillance that allegedly shows the alarm lights triggering at 10:19 p.m., about seven minutes after Smith arrived. Smith is then seen placing a hose from the truck near the guardrail to the embankment at about 10:27 p.m. before resetting the alarm system at 10:28 p.m., according to the affidavit. At 10:45 p.m., Smith is allegedly seen wiping the ground near where he placed the hose with four large absorbent pads on the delivery truck before leaving the station approximately two minutes later.
Investigators determined Smith discharged approximately 4,055 gallons of gasoline down the embankment at about 250 gallons per minute before departing from the Gas N Go and returning to the Twin Oaks fuel depot to refill his truck.
Investigators learned that safety features on Smith’s truck make it impossible for drivers to refill the tank if there is any
remaining gas in the fuel compartments, according to a release. Smith therefore would have had to make a partial delivery at his next stop before returning to the fuel depot, which would have lengthened his route, the release says.
Smith did not alert his employer or any governmental agency of the fuel spill, according to the affidavit. A mechanic for Lee told investigators the truck was functioning properly when he checked it after the spill occurred, the affidavit says.
A resident on the 500 block of Brookhaven Road first alerted the borough that something was amiss with a call reporting an odor of gas at about 6:15 a.m.
Brookhaven Fire Co. Chief Rob Montella said responding firefighters found the offending product and tracked it back to the gas
station. They were able to get the county HAZMAT team out and mitigate some of the spill, which seeped into the borough’s storm water system, and responders dammed up areas by the borough building to keep the spill from getting into the Chester Creek.
Montella said that the spill site has been cleaned up and some 100 truckloads of contaminated soil have been trucked offsite to proper disposal facilities. There was some groundwater contamination, he said, but two environmental companies were backfilling excavation and would be setting monitoring wells, hopefully by the end of the week.
“The school has been monitored for air quality in there, making sure we don’t have any readings in the school regarding gasoline,” said Montella. “Every day it was monitored and they just in the last week or so did air samples from the school, which all came back clean.”
Montella said the retention pond has also been cleaned up and some wildlife is beginning to return there, which he said is a good sign. The creeks, storm sewers and sewer plant that were impacted by the spill have been cleaned, said Montella, but crews will continue to monitor booms placed in different locations daily for weeks, months or possibly even years in the future.
Montella thanked the Penn-Delco School District for accommodating cleanup crews, as well as Delaware County Emergency Services, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Brookhaven Borough Council for their assistance.
State Rep. Leanne Krueger, D-161 of Nether Providence, also thanked clean-up crews for their efforts to remediate the area, as well as members of Stollsteimer’s office for their work on the criminal side.
“I’m grateful to the Delaware County District Attorney’s
Office for investigating this incident and showing that actions that harm our environment and our community will not be tolerated,” she said. “Since the spill happened in June, I’ve been closely monitoring the response and cleanup, and I’m pleased that there will be accountability through the justice system.”
“The remedial efforts are still ongoing,” Stollsteimer said. “This is not inexpensive, this is a major catastrophe … It’s still unclear how much this is going to cost, but it’s all because one guy didn’t want to leave with a truck that had 4,000 gallons of gasoline in it.”
Part of the bill for those efforts is being footed by the insurance carrier for the transport company, according to Stollsteimer, as well as the borough and county. Stollsteimer indicated some civil action might be undertaken at some point to recoup costs on behalf of the governmental agencies, but he was unaware of anything currently being contemplated. County Council Chairman Brian Zidek could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Borough council members Cherie Heller and Janice Sawicki, both of whom live just down the street from the school, said they were shocked and saddened by the devastation to the area.
Heller noted her kids walk the path by the school every day and many residents enjoyed using the area to see the wildlife, which has since been killed or otherwise impacted by the fuel spill.
“For us, it’s very upsetting,” she said. “Why would you feel it is OK to do this anywhere?”
Stollsteimer said that question has not yet been answered. Smith turned himself over to CID detectives Tuesday, but Stollsteimer said he has not yet spoken with investigators.
Attorney Dan McGarrigle,
who was recently retained to defend Smith, said his client has cooperated fully over the course of the investigation and surrendered himself as he was asked to do Tuesday. McGarrigle said it was his understanding that Smith has made himself available to detectives in the case.
McGarrigle said he has not yet been able to review the evidence in the case, but looks forward to conducting his own investigation and believes he will be contesting the charges in court.
“I do think it’s interesting that the D.A.’s Office is choosing to look at the employee and not the company – or companies – and their procedures and practices,” McGarrigle said.
As for the school district, Penn-Delco Communications Coordinator Lisa Palmarini said she was saddened and surprised to learn the spill that put the students and staff of Coebourn in danger was allegedly a deliberate act.
Palmarini said the district appreciated Brookhaven allowing students to use Borough Hall for their last day of classes to say goodbye after their lives had already been so disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and is appreciative of all the work that has gone into allowing the school building to reopen for classes in the fall.
While she was not sure if the closure impacted any summer programs that might ordinarily be held at this building, Palmarini said it did impact the ability of teachers to effectively close down classrooms and prepare for the upcoming year, so Penn Delco is excited to let them back into Coebourn to pick up where they left off.
Smith was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge David H. Lang, who set bail at $50,000 unsecured. A preliminary hearing has been set for Aug. 12 before Magisterial District Judge Georgia L. Stone.