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GREASE HAULERS PLEAD GUILTY TO FELONY CLEAN WATER ACT VIOLATIONS


UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
GRETCHEN C.F. SHAPPERT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 12, 2007

Ecosolve Company and Officials Admit to Mishandling of Local Restaurant Waste

CHARLOTTE, NC - Ecosolve, LLC (Ecosolve) and some of its officers and employees–the company’s president during the crime, Ralph Rogers; its Environmental Compliance Officer, Leanne Ingram; and four other company officials and employees, Thomas Edwin Forebush, Whit Gibson, James Branham, and Tara Presson--have entered guilty pleas in U.S. District Court in connection with their intentional violation of the Clean Water Act. Ecosolve LLC is a Charlotte company that is retained by restaurants and food outlets to remove, haul, pre-treat, and dispose of waste from grease traps.

Ecosolve entered its guilty plea on November 21, 2007, pursuant to a plea agreement in which it agreed to pay a $160,000 in fines – the maximum permitted by law for the charge to which it pleaded guilty – and to serve three years on probation that will include abiding by an environmental compliance plan under supervision of the government. Thomas Edwin Forebush, 38, of Stem, North Carolina, a former driver supervisor for Ecosolve, LLC, pled guilty on Tuesday, December 11 to one felony count of conspiracy to violate the Clean Water Act in connection with Ecosolve’s business of removing waste from grease traps of a number of local restaurants and other establishments. In his plea agreement, Forebush agreed to serve one year plus one day in jail to be followed by a three-year term of supervised release, and to pay full restitution, regardless of the resulting loss amount.

Ecosolve company officials trained drivers to discharge waste back into customers’ grease traps and into the public sewer system instead of removing all of the waste and hauling it to the company’s pretreatment facility for processing and disposal. This activity was in violation of the Clean Water Act because the customers’ grease traps were not designated discharge points for such waste. The company, Ecosolve, LLC, pled guilty to three counts of violating a Clean Water Act pretreatment requirement, and to making a false material statement regarding a matter regulated by the Clean Water Act. Defendants Rogers and Forebush pled guilty to conspiracy to violate the Clean Water Act. Defendants Branham, Gibson, Ingram, and Presson, pled guilty to having knowingly violated a Clean Water Act requirement imposed in a pretreatment program and approved by law. Grease trap waste is a pollutant that, if not properly disposed of, can cause serious backups of the sewer system, at great expense to taxpayers. More details about the facts of the case can be viewed at the following link: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/ncw/press/ECOSOLVEFACTUALRESUME.pdf

Sentencing dates are yet to be determined by the court. In announcing the guilty pleas, Gretchen C.F. Shappert, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, stated, “This District takes an aggressive approach to environmental compliance cases. Every law, every regulation, and every permit has an important purpose, and we are pleased to have brought those involved in this case to justice. "This case is one of only a few successful federal felony prosecutions nationwide which has involved illegal mishandling of restaurant waste." "Ecosolve was expected to collect and dispose of grease trap waste properly and legally, a service they clearly did not provide," said Granta Nakayama, Assistant Administrator for EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. "Companies and individuals that commit crimes that harm human health and the environment will be vigorously prosecuted."

The following agencies participated in the investigation of this case: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division, North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, and U.S. Department of Transportation. The prosecution was handled for the government by Assistant United States Attorney Steven R. Kaufman, with assistance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment Crimes Section.

http://www.justice.gov/usao/ncw/press/grease.html