VENTURA : Man Pleads Guilty to Illegal Dumping
A Port Hueneme man pleaded guilty Tuesday in Ventura County Superior Court to charges he dumped hazardous medical waste into a dumpster at a Port Hueneme condominium complex in March.
Purnell Winbush, 26, a former courier for the Buenaventura Medical Clinic, admitted that he dumped 80 pounds of medical waste into a trash container at the Villa Seville condominiums on March 27 and 28.
Winbush was supposed to be driving the waste from the clinic to the Community Memorial Hospital of San Buenaventura for sterilization and disposal, officials said.
But a woman searching the dumpster for aluminum cans found several trash bags full of used hypodermic needles, scalpels, vials of blood and petri dishes that were used to test for diseases, police said. The woman reported the dumping to police, and a district attorney’s investigation resulted in Winbush’s arrest May 23.
Prosecutors originally charged Winbush with two counts each of unlawful disposal of hazardous waste and unlawful transportation of hazardous waste. But Deputy Dist. Atty. Linda S. Groberg said her office plans to ask Judge Steven Z. Perren to dismiss one count of each charge at Winbush’s sentencing.
Winbush faces a maximum penalty of three years and eight months in prison on the charges, which are felonies, Groberg said.
Winbush remains free on $2,500 bond pending his sentencing, scheduled for Nov. 6.
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