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TRENTON
– The former general manager of a
Hillsborough demolition company was sentenced
to jail today for unlawfully releasing hazardous
waste at a factory site in the City of Passaic
and collecting sold waste without a permit
from the state, according to Attorney General
Anne Milgram.
Arthur
Fletcher, 48, of Somerville, the former
general Manager for Arguello Environmental
and Demolition LLC, was sentenced to 180
days in the county jail as a condition of
a three-year term of probation by Superior
Court Judge Ronald G. Marmo in Passaic County.
Fletcher also must pay $31,000 in restitution.
Fletcher
pleaded guilty on Feb. 11 to third-degree
unlawful release of hazardous waste, a charge
contained in a Dec. 10, 2007 state grand
jury indictment obtained by the Division
of Criminal Justice Environmental Crimes
Bureau. Fletcher admitted that he allowed
a pile of soil contaminated with paint sludge
and solids to be abandoned at the former
Pantasote Factory site on Jefferson Street
in Passaic in early 2007.
Also
on Feb. 11, Fletcher pleaded guilty to an
accusation charging him with third-degree
unlawful collection of solid waste for collecting
more than 100 cubic yards of solid waste
from a demolition site on Magazine Street
in Newark and from the Pantasote site without
the required approval from the state Department
of Environmental Protection.
The
soil contaminated with paint sludge that
was abandoned at the Pantasote site originated
at the plant site of Hercules Enterprises
LLC on Valley Road in Hillsborough. Hercules
manufactures roll-off containers and container
chassis. In a related matter, Blue Jay Enterprises
LLC, a corporate entity of Hercules, pleaded
guilty on June 25 to fourth-degree transporting
hazardous waste without a manifest for unlawfully
allowing the contaminated soil to be transported
from their site in Hillsborough to the Pantasote
site without completing and submitting the
required hazardous waste manifest to the
DEP. The corporation was ordered to pay
a $5,000 fine by Superior Court Judge Marilyn
T. Clark in Passaic County.
Deputy
Attorney General Betty Rodriguez of the
Division of Criminal Justice Environmental
Crimes Bureau handled the cases for the
Attorney General. Detectives Steven Ogulin
and Stephen Politowski of the Environmental
Crimes Bureau conducted the investigation
in coordination with representatives from
the DEP. The Hillsborough Police Department,
Passaic County Sheriff’s Department
and Passaic County fire officials assisted
in the investigation.
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