American Contractors, Inc also failed to obtain a sediment control plan
BALTIMORE (November 14, 2012)—Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced today that American Contractors, Inc. of Hyattsville, pleaded guilty in the Circuit Court for Calvert County to unlawfully disposing solid waste and performing construction without obtaining an approved Sediment Control Plan. Judge Warren J. Krug sentenced the defendant company to pay $14,290 in restitution to the property owner for the cost of cleaning up the dumped waste and imposed a fine of $30,000 with all but $10,000 suspended. The company was placed on five years probation.
“Illegal dumping and failure to control sediment run-off can inflict a costly blight on any community,” said Attorney General Gansler. “This office is committed to the enforcement of these laws that protect the health and home values of Maryland property owners.”
The illegal activity was discovered by the Calvert County Department of Planning and Zoning in response to a complaint of illegal dumping. It was referred to the Maryland Department of the Environment and the Environmental Crimes Unit of the Office of the Attorney General.
An investigation revealed that the property owner’s son had responded to an ad on Craigslist for free fill dirt and contacted American Contractors, Inc. to deliver dirt to his mother’s property located on Yellow Bank Road in Dunkirk. Investigators found truckloads of solid waste consisting of construction and demolition debris, mattresses, pipes, toilet fixtures and other debris dumped on the property. In addition, the land had been disturbed without obtaining an approved sediment control plan.
In making the announcement, Attorney General Gansler thanked Assistant Attorney General Jay Robinson and Chief Investigator David Williams for their hard work on the case. This conviction follows an investigation conducted by the Environmental Crimes Unit of the Office of the Attorney General, with the assistance of Calvert County Department of Planning and Zoning and the Maryland Department of the Environment.
Source: Office of Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler