The Region : Waste Dumping Penalties

The owner of a precious metals extracting firm was fined $25,000 and his manager sentenced to 60 days in jail for illegally transporting hazardous wastes and dumping them into city sewers. Superior Court Judge David Horowitz also placed both Rafi Krikor Ohanes, owner of Rafidain Refinery in Los Angeles, and Krikor Joseph Mahrouk, plant manager, on five years’ probation. Mahrouk pleaded no contest to one count of dumping excessive levels of cyanide and acids into the city sewer system, and Ohanes pleaded no contest to one count of illegally transporting toxic wastes to an unlicensed facility. The firm services jewelry manufacturers by extracting precious metals, such as gold, from cyanide solutions.