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PA VIOLATING ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION LAWS

Release Date: 2/26/96
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PA VIOLATING ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION LAWS

FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1996

FATHER AND SON SENTENCED AFTER PLEADING GUILTY TO VIOLATING ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION LAWS

Rodney Gist, operator of a defunct metal plating firm that was located in the North Texas area, was sentenced on Feb. 16 following his guilty plea to one count of unlawful disposal of hazardous plating wastes. Gist was sentenced in Dallas, Texas, to five years probation, 120 days home confinement, plus 100 hours of community service. A second defendant in the case, Reginald B. Gist, Rodney Gist's father, had been sentenced on Dec. 8 to 51 months in federal prison. Reginald Gist was also ordered to pay restitution of $78,841 as partial payment for the costs of cleaning up the environmental contamination caused by both Gists. The sentences followed guilty pleas by the father and son to violations of federal environmental protection laws. Both defendants admitted to the improper transportation or disposal of hazardous wastes generated by their businesses, High Tech Plating and Metal Plating Systems, in Balch Springs, Texas, in 1990 and in Forney, Texas, in 1990 through 1992. According to court documents, the father, Reginald Gist, was one of the owners of High Tech Plating. Following repeated notices to the elder Gist by Dallas County wastewater control authorities that his business had been caught dumping electroplating waste into the sewer system, the sewer connection with High Tech was disconnected. Reginald Gist admitted that he then abandoned the Balch Springs facility, leaving behind plating vats and 55-gallon drums containing hundreds of gallons of hazardous waste. EPA was then required to clean up the site, which was located near residential housing, and to dispose of the wastes at a cost of more than $300,000. After abandoning High Tech Plating in Balch Springs, Reginald Gist opened a new company, Metal Plating in Forney, Texas. At the new site, the Gists dumped liquid plating wastes into the septic system and on the ground outside the building. State environmental regulators ordered the Gists to remove the contaminated soil and to properly dispose of it. Reginald Gist admitted that rather then dispose of the soil properly he transported it to the Lake Fork area where it was either buried or dumped on the ground. The evidence showed that the father, Reginald Gist, dominated the activities of the company which led the court to impose the more severe sentence on him. The prosecution was the result of a four-year investigation of the Metal Plating Co. by the Texas Environmental Enforcement Task Force, which includes State of Texas environmental investigators and EPA's Criminal Investigation Division.

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