Judge Gives 2 Dumpers Some Time in the Dump

Two American businessmen who pleaded guilty to charges of illegally dumping hazardous wastes in a Mexican border town were sentenced Thursday to spend time in a halfway house and 400 hours each picking up trash or working at a municipal dump.

Darrel A. Duisen of Chula Vista and George W. Shearer of Long Beach were ordered to report to the the San Diego or Long Beach sanitation authorities to work at municipal landfills or “elsewhere where the city needs your help cleaning up trash.”

U.S. District Judge J. Lawrence Irving, sitting in San Diego, also ordered the men to pay $24,000 each in fines in the case, the first known instance of what some environmental officials fear could be a trend toward illegal trans-border dumping.

Duisen and Shearer were convicted in a plea bargain in November of two felony counts of using false documents in shipping transactions. Glenn Faulks of Oceanside, a retired Army major, also pleaded guilty to one count of using a false document.

A fourth defendant, Tijuana businessman Rogelio Marin Sagrista, had pleaded guilty earlier to conspiracy.

The case stemmed from the discovery one year ago by Mexican environmental authorities of an illegal dump near the border town of Tecate. Law enforcement officials said more than 100,000 gallons of liquid wastes and other solids had been dumped in a field over a two-month period.

The materials were traced to U.S. Technology & Disposal Services of National City, a firm formed in 1985 by Duisen, Shearer and Faulks. Authorities said the firm had solicited chemical wastes from California firms on promises of proper disposal.

But the facility was little more than an empty field, law enforcement authorities alleged. Lawyers for the four men contended that they had intended to build a legitimate, fully licensed facility but began accepting wastes before it was complete.

At the sentencing Thursday, Irving said he found “no evidence . . . that when the venture started it was done with intent to violate any laws.” He said the operation had been cut short and Mexican officials had informed him that the site has been cleaned up.

Rejecting the prosecutor’s plea for three- and four-year prison terms for Shearer and Duisen, Irving also said tests indicate the wastes did not contaminate ground water. He noted that the defendants’ guilty pleas had saved the government considerable expense.

“In the classic sense, it is a case where there are no known victims,” said Irving. He added that he was barred by Congress from imposing a prison term simply to deter others in the waste-disposal industry from trying the same approach.

The Probation Department had recommended that Duisen and Shearer be incarcerated for 366 days.

Irving imposed upon Duisen, 56, a suspended four-year term, sentencing him to five years’ probation including 120 days in a halfway house. He ordered him to report to the city to work Saturdays at a city dump or for cleaning up trash from freeways.

Shearer, 53, received a suspended three-year term and was sentenced to five years’ probation and 60 days in a halfway house. He, too, must serve 400 hours of community service, probably cleaning up trash for the City of Long Beach.

Faulks, 62, was placed on five years’ probation and fined $12,000. Irving sentenced Marin, 27, to five years’ probation and a $5,000 fine. Marin allegedly formed a Mexican firm, Tratamientos Petroquimicos Mexicanos, that contracted with U.S. Technology to provide a dump for the wastes.

Irving observed that he believed “the most culpable defendant” is Guillermo Marin, the father of the younger Marin. In the indictment, he was accused of conspiring with the Americans. However, he has never been arrested and is considered a fugitive.

In arguing for prison terms for Duisen and Shearer, Assistant U.S. Atty. Charles S. Crandall contended that the men had never fully acknowledged or felt remorse for their decision “to take advantage of this country’s border with Mexico.”

Crandall said Duisen and Shearer deliberately misled customers, systematically falsified U.S. Technology’s business records, helped Marin arrange to bribe Mexican customs and environmental officials and transported hazardous waste across the border without permits.

“There is a very great need in this case for a deterrent effect and for a message to be sent to others who handle hazardous waste,” Crandall said. “ . . . Just as we wouldn’t want the Mexicans shipping their waste up here and dumping it in a field, it shouldn’t go the other way either.”

Crandall noted that Shearer had spent his career working with hazardous waste transport and disposal firms and should have been well aware of the laws. He said the men should not be given a break simply because they were caught before the waste could do any damage.

Shearer is currently working as a consultant in hazardous waste regulation, his lawyer said. Duisen is a property manager for an apartment complex. Faulks is retired and Marin, who has a Mexican law degree, is working in his brother’s factory, his lawyer said.

In asking Irving for probation, the defense lawyers noted that the wastes dumped at Rancho Ramo consisted merely of “tar from the La Brea tar pits” and contaminated waste water from a fire at a paint plant.