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PA FELONY CHARGE FOR ILLEGAL CREATION OF SLUDGE PILE

Release Date: 5/3/96
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PA FELONY CHARGE FOR ILLEGAL CREATION OF SLUDGE PILE

FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, MAY 3, 1996

CO-OWNER PLEADS GUILTY TO FELONY CHARGE FOR ILLEGAL CREATION OF "MOUNT SAN DIEGO" SLUDGE PILE,
SECOND CO-OWNER AND COMPANY INDICTED

On April 23, Robert Vaughn, one of the owners of an Orange County contractor disposal business, Chino Corona Farms Inc., pleaded guilty to a federal Clean Water Act (CWA) felony charge related to the illegal disposal of sludge from the City of San Diego, Calif. On April 25, a federal grand jury in San Diego indicted the firm and and its co-owner, Gordon Cooper, for one count of conspiracy, one CWA count for the unlawful disposal of 200,000 tons of sludge, and three counts of mail fraud. Vaughn's sentencing is set for Aug. 5. The City of San Diego processes its sewage at the Point Loma Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant. During the time period alleged in the indictment, the operation of the plant was regulated by means of a permit issued by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board pursuant to authority delegated by EPA. The permit had certain requirements with respect to sewage sludge, among which was the requirement that prior to any changes planned in sludge use or disposal written notification be made to the Regional Board, and that the Regional Board approve the manner in which sludge was disposed. The City of San Diego contracted with Chino Corona Farms Inc. for the removal and disposal of an estimated 120,000 tons per year of sewage sludge. Chino Corona Farms Inc. and Gordon Cooper allegedly violated the terms and conditions of the Regional Board permit by disposing of sludge from a sewage facility by applying it to farmland near Seeley, California without notice to and approval of the Regional Board. The allegations involve hundreds of truckloads of sludge taken to Imperial County between March 1 and May 30, 1993. The indictment also charges that the defendants devised a scheme to defraud in which they claimed to be processing the sludge and marketing it as compost, when in fact they were stockpiling the sludge at their location in Thermal, Calif., in a pile of over 200,000 tons of uncomposted sewage sludge that came to be known as "Mount San Diego." In doing so, it is contended that the defendants overcharged the City of San Diego approximately $2 million. It is further alleged that, as a part of the scheme, the defendants made payments to the Torres Martinez Indian Reservation environmental authorities in order to avoid scrutiny of the sludge stockpile in Thermal. The investigation which led to the guilty plea and indictment was performed by EPA's Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI.

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