San Marcos
The manager of a San Marcos auto painting shop and the firm itself were ordered Tuesday to pay $22,100 in cleanup costs and fines for dumping leaking barrels of hazardous waste in Rancho Bernardo.
Tri-Cities Auto Painting, at 1410 La Mirada Drive, and manager Peter Flotron, 31, of Escondido, were placed on three years’ probation by San Diego Municipal Court Judge E. Mac Amos Jr.
Flotron was ordered to spend 45 days in a work-furlough program. A review hearing was set for Oct. 4 to check his progress in paying the cleanup costs and fine.
The defendants were charged with five misdemeanor counts of transporting 116 rusted barrels containing paint sludge and thinner waste to a remote area off Black Mountain Road in October.
Flotron, the firm, and ex-employee David Walter Rogers, 23, of Vista, all pleaded guilty May 21 to a misdemeanor count of illegal dumping. Rogers was sentenced June 11 to 66 days already served in jail and three years’ probation. The firm is owned by Stanmock Inc.
Another ex-employee who allegedly helped Rogers haul the barrels away is Andrew Lawrence Ricksecker, 24, of Vista, who pleaded innocent to the charges and will return to court July 15.
“They’ve taken out all the barrels, but the dirt is still contaminated,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Josephine Kiernan.
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