PORT HUENEME : Man Sentenced for Dumping Waste
A Port Hueneme man who admitted dumping 80 pounds of infectious hospital waste into a Port Hueneme condominium’s trash dumpster was sentenced Tuesday to 60 days in jail and three years of probation.
Pernell Winbush, 26, a former courier for the Buenaventura Medical Clinic in Ventura, pleaded guilty in September to unlawful transportation of hazardous waste and unlawful disposal of hazardous waste, both felonies.
Winbush was supposed to be driving the waste from the clinic to the Community Memorial Hospital of San Buenaventura for sterilization and disposal, officials have said. Instead, he dumped the waste into a dumpster behind the Villa Seville condominiums at Channel Islands Boulevard and Bolker Drive.
In addition to the jail term and probation, Judge Steven Z. Perren ordered Winbush to pay $2,056 in restitution to the county for emergency response costs and to pay cleanup costs to the condominium managers.
Perren also ordered Winbush to perform 100 hours of community service by lecturing laboratories, schools and other couriers about his case. Deputy Dist. Atty. Linda S. Groberg said her office will decide within a month whether to file charges against Buenaventura Medical Clinic or Community Memorial Hospital.
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