Electroplater Charged in Disposal of Wastes

On one side of the chain-link fence was a grassy lawn where children played. On the other side, environmental investigators found about two dozen drums containing cyanide, hexavalent chromium, perchloroethylene and cadmium.

The scene was Epic Plating Inc., an electroplating firm in Hawthorne. What investigators discovered Oct. 21 has led to felony charges against Epic Plating owner Arthur Filler of illegally storing and disposing of toxic waste.

Filler conceded in an interview last week that he stored the chemicals, but he denied knowingly violating regulations and said he had corrected all the problems.

“We have been here a long time and we are not criminals,” he said. “There never has been anyone hurt.”

Officials acknowledged that no one was hurt, but they shudder at what might have happened.

Container Leaking

“It was raining when we got there,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. William Carter, who took part in the October search. “Some of these elements were being washed into the ground. One drum of cyanide in particular was leaking.”

If the cyanide had mixed with waste acids also produced by Epic, the result could have been a cloud of deadly cyanide gas, said Daniel Fresquez, enforcement coordinator of the Los Angeles County Hazardous Waste Control Program.

Fresquez said preliminary indications revealed soil contamination of the Epic property but none in neighboring yards.

The incident was one of several cited in a felony complaint information detailing three felonies and 11 misdemeanors.

An investigator had returned to Epic 10 days later and said he found some drums still stored there illegally. Four days after that, Filler flushed toxic waste down a sewer line, according to a third charge.

Several Charges

The three incidents all resulted in felony charges, and the prosecutor said he will seek a prison sentence if Filler is convicted. Filler’s attorney, John Shaby, said the case will be defended vigorously.

“Our response was that any discharge was accidental, if there was a discharge. . . . If he had been discharging all the time, there would have been nothing in the backyard,” he said. “The first time he was aware of a storage problem was when he was notified.”

The case is one of a series brought by the district attorney’s toxic waste strike force against electroplating companies. There are six pending cases, including the one against Filler, and there have been three convictions and one permanent injunction issued against electroplating firms.

About 500 electroplating firms in Los Angeles County use toxic solutions containing acids, cyanide and heavy metals in a process that deposits a thin metal coating on a metallic surface.

Charge Denied

Attorney Shaby said: “We deny there was any disposal of the chemicals. They were hauled away by an appropriately licensed hauler after (Filler) was given notice that they were improperly stored.”

Behind the Epic property is the backyard of Alice Sykora.

“We had grandchildren playing here all summer. For years they have been using the yard,” she said. She was unaware that Epic had stored cyanide a few feet from her property.

“Oh, my God,” she said when a reporter told her of the charges. “I did not know.”