Local News in Brief : Owner of Pollution-Control Firm Gets Jail for Violating Probation

The owner of a Sun Valley firm that manufactures pollution-control equipment was sentenced Tuesday to 117 days in jail and his company fined $50,000 for failing to comply with a judge’s orders after his conviction for illegally disposing of hazardous waste.

Rodney I. Olson, 51, president of Fiberdyne Inc., pleaded no contest in August to one misdemeanor count of illegal disposal of hazardous waste and was placed on three years probation by San Fernando Municipal Court Judge Michael S. Luros.

The conditions of probation included a mandatory 15-day jail term, a $4,250 fine and a restitution payment of $2,683. In addition, Fiberdyne, which also entered a no-contest plea, was ordered to pay a fine of $21,600 plus $22,099 restitution to the state health department for the cleanup of contaminated soil.

But Luros changed the sentence Tuesday after finding that Olson had not paid the fines and only served part of his jail sentence. The firm had complied with none of the terms of probation, the judge said.

Olson paid his fines and restitution in court Tuesday, but the money owed by the corporation is still outstanding, Luros said. Olson was ordered to begin serving his jail term June 5.

The charges stemmed from the illegal dumping of acetone and styrene--flammable and toxic wastes--in a dry creek bed in Acton in October and November, 1984. Sheriff’s deputies discovered 107 barrels of hazardous wastes after neighbors complained of chemical odors.