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MISSOURI RESTAURANT, TWO INDIVIDUALS SENTENCED FOR DUMPING

Release Date: 01/25/2002
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 2002
MISSOURI RESTAURANT, TWO INDIVIDUALS SENTENCED FOR DUMPING

Luke C. Hester 202-564-7818/[email protected]


Venetian Harbor Inc., of Portage Des Sioux, Mo., its president/treasurer, Warren Spielman of St. Louis, Mo.; and an employee, Rush Templeton of Florissant, Mo., were all sentenced on charges of conspiracy to violate the Clean Water Act (CWA) and illegal dumping in violation of the CWA. From 1995 to early 1999, Venetian operated as a business known as “The Tavern on the Rand,” a restaurant/tavern located on a converted tow vessel that was permanently moored on the Mississippi River. On several occasions, the defendants discharged sewage from the vessel into the Mississippi River and its adjacent connecting ditches, rather than pay for the cost of proper sewage disposal. Venetian Harbor was ordered to pay a $90,000 fine. Spielman was sentenced to 90 days in prison, and was also ordered to pay a $90,000 fine and serve 100 hours of community service. Templeton was sentenced to 30 days in prison, one year of home confinement and was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the sheriff departments of St. Charles County and St. Louis County, Mo., and Madison County, Ill., the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the Illinois State Police with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in St. Louis.

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