Man Enters Plea in Medical Waste Case
A Port Hueneme medical waste courier has pleaded not guilty in Ventura County Municipal Court to charges that he dumped 80 pounds of infectious waste in a trash bin behind a Port Hueneme condominium.
Purnell Winbush, 25, remained free on $2,500 bond after he entered a not guilty plea to two counts of disposal or transportation of hazardous waste without a permit. Each count is a felony violation of the California Health and Safety Code and carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $100,000 fine, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Linda Groberg.
Port Hueneme police arrested Winbush May 23 after a woman searching trash containers for aluminum cans found plastic boxes containing hypodermic needles, petri dishes, scalpels and vials of blood in a dumpster behind the Villa Seville Condominiums.
Winbush worked for the Buenaventura Medical Clinic, which has branches in Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo. He usually took the waste to Community Memorial Hospital of San Buenaventura, which would sterilize it and dispose of it, Groberg said.
Winbush quit his job soon after police started investigating, said Thomas Becker, head of Buenaventura Medical Clinic.
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