Owner Faces 7 Felony, 4 Misdemeanor Counts : Northridge Firm Accused of Dumping Toxic Waste in Sewer

Criminal charges were filed Tuesday alleging that a Northridge pumping company and its owner illegally transported and dumped toxic industrial waste into a public sewer.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Joseph Sorrentino said that police today would seek to arrest Randy Singer, owner of Pelland Pumping Co., on a warrant listing seven felony counts and four misdemeanor counts of illegal disposal and transportation of hazardous waste.

The charges stem from incidents on Nov. 8 and Dec. 12, 1984, and last May 17, when drivers operating the company’s two pumping trucks allegedly discharged waste directly into a manhole reserved for use by septic waste haulers. The waste contained a concentration of lead 3,000 times greater than allowed in material dumped outside of special landfills, Sorrentino said.

If convicted, Singer faces up to three years in state prison on each felony count and up to one year in prison and a $50,000 fine for each misdemeanor count, Sorrentino said.

Tips Led to Inquiry

Police and health inspectors had been investigating the company’s activities since last November, Sorrentino said, when they began receiving anonymous tips that Pelland was using the manholes for illegal dumping.

Pelland had a twice-monthly contract with Judy of California Inc., a Sun Valley ceramics plant, to remove waste from the firm’s plant at 9350 Glenoaks Blvd. and transport it to an industrial-waste landfill, where such toxic materials can be dumped legally, Sorrentino said.

But, instead of taking the material to a landfill, Singer told his drivers to dump the waste in a manhole on Peoria Street near the plant, the prosecutor said.

Investigators first attempted to inspect the material that Pelland was dumping into the manhole last Dec. 12, Sorrentino said, but a truck driver fled as officials approached.

May 17 Stakeout

He said that police and inspectors from the Los Angeles Toxic Waste Strike Force staked out the manhole site May 17 after a Pelland truck picked up material at Judy’s plant. They watched as a driver discharged 11,000 gallons of waste laden with lead, cadmium, zinc and copper into the manhole, Sorrentino said.

The Los Angeles Board of Public Works in June revoked dumping permits for the company because of evidence collected during the May 17 incident.

Pelland previously had a permit to transport some types of hazardous wastes, but that permit expired in 1984 and was not renewed, Sorrentino said.

“I think that really goes to the culpability of the man,” he said. “He knows that he’s dealing with hazardous waste, and he’s dealing with it without a proper permit and dumping it in a manhole.”

Pelland officials declined to comment on the charges.