(LISBON, Ohio) — A Columbiana County man was sentenced Friday to six months of incarceration for illegally dumping waste that spilled into a waterway in Yellow Creek Township.
“There’s a stiff price for treating our environment like a dumping ground,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said. “This sentence fits the crime.”
Common Pleas Judge Megan Bickerton sentenced Christopher Joy, 35, to six months at the Eastern Ohio Correction Center and three years of probation. He could be imprisoned for two years if he violates probation terms.
Joy pleaded guilty to complicity to illegal open dumping of solid wastes for helping another man, Timothy Patrick, dump 31 drums of waste down a ravine in July 2017.
One of the 55-gallon drums burst open and leaked hydraulic oil into a stream that leads to Yellow Creek and the Ohio River. Emergency response teams from the state and federal environmental protection agencies contained the spill before it reached the river.
Patrick is charged with illegal transportation of hazardous waste and illegal open dumping of solid wastes. His jury trial is scheduled to start on April 21.
Yost’s Environmental Enforcement Section is handling the prosecutions. Both cases were investigated jointly by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Environmental Enforcement Unit, Ohio EPA’s Special Investigations Unit, U.S. EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office.
Photos of the drums are available on the attorney general’s Twitter page.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Dominic Binkley: 614-728-4127
–30–