MACON, GA – Robert Lewis, 42, of Atlanta, is headed to federal prison after being sentenced Thursday to 10 months for turning Georgia into his personal toxic waste dump. U.S. District Court Judge C. Ashley Royal handed down the sentence in Macon, following Lewis’s guilty plea last September.
Lewis operated Simple Solutions, Inc., a waste hauling business, and from May 2007 to April 2008, he was tasked with transporting hazardous waste from a local manufacturing plant to a licensed disposal facility. Instead, Lewis opted for a cheaper – and far more dangerous – solution: stashing the waste in unsecured self-storage units and at his own properties.
The scheme unraveled on February 26, 2009, when investigators discovered forty 55-gallon drums and sixteen 275-gallon totes of hazardous waste at a Macon self-storage facility. Lewis had rented the units back in July and August 2007, and continued to accumulate the dangerous materials. Further investigation revealed additional improperly stored waste – including highly flammable solvents and deadly cyanide – in Rex, Georgia, and chillingly, at his home in Albany, Georgia.
“The improper and illegal storage of these extremely dangerous materials in areas where members of the public could unsuspectingly be placed in great danger is a matter of particular concern in this case,” stated U.S. Attorney Michael J. Moore. The potential for disaster was immense, and Lewis knowingly gambled with public safety for profit.
Maureen O’Mara, Special Agent in Charge of EPA’s criminal program in Georgia, emphasized the gravity of the offense. “The defendant knowingly stored highly flammable hazardous waste without regard to the dangers it posed,” she said. “Handling and storing hazardous waste illegally can put public health at serious risk, threaten groundwater supplies, and run the destructive risk of fire. Today’s sentencing demonstrates that violators who disregard our nation’s environmental laws will be prosecuted.”
The case was a joint effort led by agents from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, with Assistant United States Attorney Paul C. McCommon III securing the conviction. Anyone with further inquiries regarding this case is directed to Pamela Lightsey at the United States Attorney’s Office, (478) 621-2603. This sentence sends a clear message: cutting corners with hazardous waste will not be tolerated.
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Key Facts
- State: Georgia
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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