San Marcos
A San Marcos auto painting shop, its manager, and a former employee pleaded guilty Tuesday to a misdemeanor charge of unlawfully dumping leaking barrels of hazardous waste.
Tri-Cities Auto Painting, 1410 La Mirada Drive; manager Peter Flotron, 31, of Escondido, and David Walter Rogers, 23, of Vista, had their pleas entered through their attorneys appearing before San Diego Municipal Judge E. Mac Amos.
The defendants were charged with five misdemeanor counts of transporting 116 rusted barrels containing paint sludge and paint thinner waste in a remote area off Black Mountain Road in October, near Rancho Bernardo.
Another ex-employee, Andrew Lawrence Ricksecker, 24, of Vista, who allegedly helped haul the barrels away will be arraigned today.
Amos set sentencing for June 11 and told the attorneys he would likely not impose more than a 45-day work furlough sentence, on the condition that the defendants clean up the area.
The barrels were found Nov. 3 by coincidence while federal authorities, along with a SWAT team, were looking for a fugitive in that area.
Flotron is free on his own recognizance, but Rogers remains in County Jail in lieu of $5,000 bail.
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