Gasoline Siphoner Charged With Polluting Bay
A 51-year-old man described as a drifter was arraigned in federal court Tuesday on two counts of discharging siphoned gasoline into San Diego Bay.
U. S. Magistrate Irma Gonzales ordered Frank Bernick held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lieu of $10,000 bail.
Melanie Pierson, an assistant U.S. attorney, said the charges of discharging pollutants stemmed from an April 15 incident that occurred while Bernick was repairing an old boat on Shelter Island.
Bernick allegedly siphoned 50 gallons of gasoline from the boat’s tanks, discharging the fuel into the bay. A firefighter jogging in the area smelled the gasoline and alerted authorities, who shut a nearby beach for an hour, Pierson said.
The charges against Bernick were sealed until he was arrested by San Diego police Monday night as he slept in his car.
Pierson said Bernick, unemployed since 1985, faces up to three years in prison and $50,000 in fines on the felony count, and a maximum of a year in jail and $25,000 in fines on the misdemeanor charge.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
