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12/10/2025
WT Staff
 Knowledge of an environmental crime? Give us a call at 877-52-WATER (877-529-2837), or email info@wtga.us
Dec 10, 2025 243 pm EST
CrimeBox
Clean Water Act Conviction Fiscal Year 2012; Case ID# CR_2275 (Florida)
Side-hustling septic hauler imprisoned for illegal discharges to Fort Lauderdale public sanitary sewer system
The defendant in this case was a 35 year old truck driver, employed by a plumbing company to empty clients' septic tanks and grease traps. The defendant was charged with three counts, felony violations of the Clean Water Act for knowingly dumping pollutants without a permit. The defendant plead guilty to the CWA charges, along with a related charge under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.
Raw, concentrated septic tank material and grease is handled at Broward County Water and Wastewater Services facility. The defendant regularly hauled this material to the receiving facility on his employer's account. The defendant completed the work of retiring private septic tanks, connecting new customers around Fort Lauderdale to the City publicly owned sanitary sewer system. The defendant performed the final pump-out of septic tanks being retired, before connected the customer to the Fort Lauderdale system. During this process, the defendant delivered the waste material to the Broward County facility.
While this business may seem unsavory, it does pay well. The defendant used his employer's truck after hours to make some extra cash. To avoid detection by his employer, he did not deliver the after-hours waste to the Broward County facility, rather dumped illegally into the City of Ft. Lauderdale sanitary sewer system. Multiple agencies participated in the investigation, tracking the illegal discharges back to the defendant.
The Federal Court in Southern District of Florida received the defendant's guilty plea, sentencing the man to a term of one year and three months in detention, with supervised release following.
Prison: 15 months; Probation: 12 months.
The criminal investigation was conducted by The investigation and prosecution was the result of work by EPA-CID, DEP Division of Law Enforcement, the City of Ft. Lauderdale Police Department, and the Broward County Sheriff’s Office. Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of EPA-CID, DEP Division of Law Enforcement, the Ft. Lauderdale Police Department, and BSO. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jose A. Bonau of the Economic and Environmental Crimes Section.
See last CrimeBox, "Confined animal feedlot operator locked up, sentenced to $1.5M penalties for discharging untreated hog manure to the environment", here.
CrimeBox briefs are compiled from US EPA records and the defendants' on line material.
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