Owner of Derelict Chemical Truck Jailed

The president of a defunct Los Angeles electroplating company has been sentenced to nine months in jail and his company fined $75,000 for abandoning a truck full of cyanide, acids and heavy metal sludge on a residential street in Lennox.

Clinton Simon Sr., 59, president of Simon Plating Co., and his son, Clinton Simon Jr., 29, a vice president of the firm, pleaded no contest Thursday in Inglewood Municipal Court to nine misdemeanor counts of violating the state’s Hazardous Wastes Control Act stemming from the February, 1984, incident.

Severe Sentence

Deputy Dist. Atty. James Hickey said Friday that the sentence imposed by Commissioner Wesley Russell on the elder Simon--which includes three years formal probation, a personal fine of $15,000 and restitution of more than $15,000 for cleanup--was unusually severe.

“It’s rare that the president of a company would serve this much jail time,” he said, “but there was a very substantial health hazard here because of the extreme volatility of the chemicals involved.”

If cyanide gas--which can be lethal--had escaped in any quantity,” Hickey said, “there could have been very serious problems.”

Hickey said that because the charges were filed before the state’s new hazardous waste laws took effect Jan. 1, they are considered misdemeanors. Under the new law, he said, the Simons would have been charged with felonies, and the elder Simon could have been fined up to $150,000 and sentenced to as much as three years in state prison.

Clinton Simon Jr. was given three years probation, a three-year suspended jail sentence, and ordered to pay a $500 fine and $1,000 restitution.

Odors Detected

Hickey said the Simons were charged with leaving the truck--which he said was not registered or equipped to haul toxic materials--on a side street in Lennox. After several days, residents detected “strange odors” coming from the truck and called the Sheriff’s Department. A hazardous materials unit briefly evacuated homes in the area and removed the waste, Hickey said. No one was hurt.

While Hickey was unsure of the amount found in the truck, defense attorney Richard De Bro, who represented the elder Simon, estimated it at 500 to 600 gallons.

Hickey said the truck was left in the 2100 block of 112th Street because the Simons owed money on the truck and were attempting to avoid repossession.

The company, located at 1842 E. 58th Place, went bankrupt in May, 1984, he said, and the site has since been sold and converted to a machine shop.

De Bro said Friday that the elder Simon was “devastated” by the sentence.

‘No One Got Hurt’

“He’s in a daze,” the lawyer said. “He didn’t profit by this (the dumping). They were just trying to avoid repossession. It was stupid, yes. But I don’t think he should have to go to jail for it. No one got hurt.”

De Bro said he believed the system was as much at fault as the elder Simon, who he characterized as “a victim.”

“There should be some sort of state program to help companies like this dispose of hazardous waste, so they aren’t tempted to break the law,” he said.

De Bro said it would have cost the Simons about $10,000 to dispose of the materials properly.

“They didn’t have that kind of money,” he said. “That’s why they were going bankrupt. This man doesn’t have 10 cents to his name. He’s been unemployed for a year. His home’s been foreclosed. He has no assets. He’ll never pay this money.”

Hickey said that because the elder Simon is “near destitute,” he will be given until just before Thanksgiving to find a job, so that he may qualify for a work furlough program under which Simon would work during the day and return to Los Angeles County Jail at night. Part of his wages, Hickey said, would be attached to help pay the fines.