Wilmington Contractor Charged With Illegal Toxic Waste Disposal

A Wilmington businessman has been arrested on charges of dumping hazardous waste into city storm drains in an incident that county prosecutors say endangered students who had to step over the flammable sludge on their way to school.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office filed felony charges last week against Robert Smallwood, a Wilmington contractor who owns Bob’s Steamcleaning and Truck Wash. Smallwood, arrested and arraigned last week, remained in jail Wednesday in lieu of $100,000 bail.

In the same Los Angeles Superior Court complaint, prosecutors also charged Doctors Hospital, located in central Los Angeles, and its chief engineer, Araham Vajitano Nasoordeen, with illegal disposal of 150 to 375 gallons of hazardous waste.

Prosecutors allege that Smallwood and Nasoordeen poured the waste--left over after Smallwood cleaned the hospital’s emergency power generator on June 3--into a driveway grate from which it entered nearby gutters.

Discovered by Bus Driver

The diesel waste was discovered the next day by a school bus driver who was discharging children at 24th Street Elementary School, about 50 yards behind the hospital.

The bus driver smelled fumes as the waste flowed across the children’s path and called the Los Angeles Fire Department, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Carmen Trutanich.

“The children had to step over the flow of this stuff,” Trutanich said. “With a flash (ignition) point of less than 140 degrees and with that much material . . . the risk was substantial. It was in close proximity to the school and a nursing home is located right across the street; it’s a heavy traffic place. I felt the whole area was in danger.”

“The long-term effect is going to be felt in the environment through the ocean,” he continued. “That waste went directly into the storm drain, where it eventually goes into the ocean.”

Up to 3 Years in Prison

If convicted, Nasoordeen and Smallwood each face up to three years in state prison and fines of up to $100,000. The 196-bed hospital, formally known as Jupiter Hospital Corp., also could be assessed a fine of up to $100,000.

The case is the ninth in which felony charges have been filed since a state law that took effect in January permitted such charges for environmental crimes, a district attorney’s spokesman said.

Smallwood’s attorney, Jerry Korengold, would not comment on the case.

An attorney for the hospital and Nasoordeen, Robert J. Gerst, contended in an interview that the case is unfair to the hospital and its engineer, who he said were unaware that the dumping was illegal. Nasoordeen, who turned himself in last week, was released on his own recognizance.

Gerst said the hospital paid $5,000 for cleanup of the waste and blames the dumping incident on Smallwood, who was contracted to clean the emergency generator. Hauling the waste would have required a state permit, which Smallwood does not have.

‘Single Incident’

“I’m shocked that they would file charges against the hospital and the engineer,” Gerst said. “It was clearly a single incident that was not any practice on the part of the hospital. The hospital clearly did not engage in any intentional dumping practice; they called in an outside person who said he had the experience to do what was legal.”

“This is, at worst, an innocent mistake,” he said. “It’s just like the DA’s office is ready to get on anybody with a felony in an effort to be tough and make a political name.”

But Trutanich, the prosecutor, said: “Any time someone who claims to be the chief engineer of a hospital pours what he knows to be toxic waste down what he knows to be a storm drain and where he knows it will go into the ocean, that is a felony and a violent crime and it should be brought before a court.”

As for Smallwood, Trutanich added, “He held himself out as a licensed waste hauler and one who could properly dispose of these materials. He was not a licensed hauler and he did not properly dispose of the materials.”

A preliminary hearing is set for Aug. 27.