130 Charges Filed in Hazardous-Waste Dumping Case

Calling it “one of the worst” cases his office has seen, Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn on Tuesday filed 130 misdemeanor charges against the former owners of a Sun Valley plating company accused of illegally dumping cyanide and other dangerous chemicals into the city sewer system.

Lawrence Russell Horton, 66, of Tarzana, former president of All Valley Plating Co. Inc., and his son, Scott Lawrence Horton, 34, of Northridge, former vice president of the firm, were charged in the complaint filed in Los Angeles Municipal Court.

The action came one day after the city cut the sewer connection of another Sun Valley firm accused of dumping hazardous wastes down its drains.

All Valley Plating, at 11321 Goss St., was cut off from the sewer system July 2. The firm has since been sold and reconnected to the system, according to a spokesman for the city Board of Public Works, who said the new owner has been operating without problems.

Tuesday’s case includes the most counts filed against a San Fernando Valley company charged with mishandling hazardous wastes, said Deputy City Atty. Steven R. Tekosky, head of the city attorney’s Environmental Protection Unit.

Hahn said investigators monitoring All Valley Plating found “almost continuous illegal dumping of extremely dangerous materials into the sewer system.”

“When you consider that the plant was using more than 6,000 gallons of water a day and that the illegal dumping was going on for up to eight hours at a time, it adds up to a lot of dangerous materials going into the sewer system,” Hahn said in a statement.

Hahn said the discharged wastes included cyanide and acids, a mixture that “can produce hydrogen cyanide, which is the poison gas used for executions. That kind of dumping can pose a deadly threat to sewer workers, as well as the general public if there is a leak of fumes from the sewer.”

The charges stem from a raid conducted by the city attorney’s environmental strike force last June 3. Inside the plant, investigators found “the storage of dangerous wastes in containers, some as big as 600 gallons in size, which were leaking and without lids,” Hahn said.

The defendants are accused of 26 violations of the state health and safety code. Each violation carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $50,000 fine. They also are accused of accused of 90 counts of illegally disposing of industrial wastes and 14 counts of illegally storing hazardous wastes. Each of these violations is punishable by up to six months in jail and $1,000 fine.

The defendants are scheduled for arraignment May 21 in Los Angeles Municipal Court. The Hortons could not be reached for comment.