Junkman Told to Clear Toxins or Go to Jail

The elderly owner of a downtown Los Angeles salvage yard has been ordered to clear his property of toxic wastes by Jan. 3--a task that could cost anywhere from $35,000 to $250,000, according to various estimates--or spend six months in jail.

Rodney Dean, 70, who was sentenced Friday by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dion G. Morrow, pleaded no contest last May to three felony charges for dumping electrical transformers containing extremely hazardous amounts of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in a desert area north of Ontario International Airport.

Dean’s junkyard at 700 S. Santa Fe Ave. has been targeted as the No. 1 site in Southern California for cleanup under the state Superfund program, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Barry Groveman. For several years, Groveman said, Dean purchased aging electrical transformers and broke them down for salvage, with any PCBs inside them leaking into the soil at his yard.

While PCBs in excess of 50 parts per million are deemed hazardous, Groveman said, the leaking transformers that Dean dumped last year near Ontario contained 620,000 parts per million. PCBs, suspected carcinogens in humans, were commonly used in transformers until the late 1970s as a lubricant to prevent overheating, Groveman said.

First Felony Charge

Dean, the first person to be charged with a felony under state toxic waste laws, could have received seven years in prison and a $200,000 fine. But Groveman expressed satisfaction with the sentence.

“You’re going to see a man moving at a record pace,” he said, “or Mr. Dean will be in the slammer.”

Dean’s attorney, David Elson, expressed confidence that the yard, less than an acre in size, will be cleaned up by January. An engineering study to fix the exact cost has yet to be performed, he told the court.

The cost question is complicated, Groveman said, because it is unclear how deep the PCBs have leached into the ground at Dean’s yard. If the oily substances exceed government-specified safety levels, soil may have to be hauled to one of only three landfills in the nation in which PCBs can legally be dumped.

Such costs would likely force Dean to sell the property, Groveman said.

Under conditions of his sentence, Dean’s jail term and an additional $5,000 fine were stayed until Jan. 3. Dean was also placed on probation for five years. Dean has already been on probation since 1982, when he was convicted of misdemeanors stemming from the illegal dumping of PCBs in his salvage yard.