Advertisement

2 Are Handed Record Terms for Dumping Toxic Waste : Pollution: The owner and manager of two Santa Ana firms must serve 180 days and 60 days respectively, the stiffest sentences given in county for such offenses.

Share
TIMES STAFF WRITER

In the first extended jail term for toxic polluters in Orange County, two businessmen were sentenced Friday to 60 to 180 days in jail after pleading guilty to six felonies each of illegally dumping large quantities of hazardous waste.

The sentencing caps a long and notorious case in which the owner and manager of two Santa Ana circuit board-manufacturing firms, Cedko Electronics Inc. and Griffin Electronics Inc., allegedly dumped waste then ignored warnings from county health officials for seven years.

Mateo Ster, 47, owner and president of both firms, was sentenced to 180 days in jail after pleading guilty to six felonies involving illegal disposal, storage and handling of hazardous waste. James Figlo, 45, the companies’ business manager, was sentenced to a 60-day jail term for the six felonies.

Advertisement

In addition, Orange County Superior Court Judge Jack Ryan ordered Ster to pay a $200,000 fine and Figlo to pay $20,000. Ryan told Ster that he would waive $160,000 of the fine if the waste is cleaned up to the county’s satisfaction.

County officials said the case involved one of the most serious and prolonged toxic-waste problems in Orange County, and that local environmental agencies were surprised when they discovered the extent of soil contamination at the plants several years ago.

The attorney prosecuting the case said the sentence was warranted because Ster and Figlo had failed to comply with warnings since 1984 to clean up and dispose of the waste properly to keep it from leaking into the county’s ground water.

“We think this is a very appropriate sentence,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher Kralick. “It is clear to our office that they have taken the position that they were willing to run the risk of disposing of waste illegally to increase their profit margin.”

It is the only Orange County case in which polluters have spent more than a day or two in jail. Both men originally faced 11 felony charges in the case, filed by the district attorney a year ago.

Robert Merryman, Orange County’s director of environmental health, said he was left “almost speechless” by the sentence.

Advertisement

“I concur that this is the stiffest sentence we’ve ever had in Orange County. I hope it delivers a clear message to people that are not complying with hazardous-waste laws,” he said. “We prefer to work in a positive nature with businesses . . . but if they are ignoring their responsibilities, the results of this case show that we will follow up with criminal action. (Dist. Atty.) Mike Capizzi is giving environmental issues strong support.”

Edward Munoz, Ster’s defense attorney, claimed that prosecutors exaggerated the severity of the offenses. He said the illegal-waste disposal was not done willfully.

“The picture painted originally by the prosecution was that these people and their businesses were one of the worst violators and they were doing things outrageously deliberate,” he said. “That is absolutely not true, and the judge didn’t think so either.”

He said that if the cases were proven to be willful and serious, his client would have had to serve much longer in jail or state prison.

“Obviously the judge . . . didn’t feel that this was the worst toxic spill in the history of the environment,” he said.

Munoz added that Griffin Electronics has been operating since 1972 and Cedko since 1976, before there were toxic waste-disposal laws.

Advertisement

“They cannot prove there is intentional dumping. . . . I contend that any waste there was negligently done before there were regulations. . . . There were no standards then they had to adhere to,” he said.

Munoz said he had “no problems with the way the fines were levied,” but he did “have a problem with the jail terms. I didn’t think they deserved any jail time, and certainly in an amount less than 45 days.”

Figlo will spend his entire sentence in the Orange County Jail’s electronic home-confinement program, in which inmates are confined to their homes and jobs and wear bracelets that can track their whereabouts. Ster must spend the first 45 days in County Jail, beginning in October, and the remainder in the home-surveillance program. Both men also were put on five years’ probation.

Metallic and acidic chemicals, especially copper sulfate, were found throughout the grounds in such large concentrations that the soil and cement is stained a bright blue-green, health records show. County health officials said they discovered during inspections that the waste was poured into sewers and dumped into holes in the ground, which were plugged with cement to escape detection.

The companies saved hundreds of thousands of dollars by dumping the waste instead of disposing of it legally in California’s special facilities and waste sites, Kralick noted.

He said he was pleased with the judge’s arrangement to waive much of the fine if the waste is removed because “the primary goal is complete cleanup of the sites to protect ground water.”

Advertisement

The companies already have spent about $80,000 on cleanup, Kralick said. Munoz said that 75% of the waste at Griffin Electronics has been removed and that cleanup at Cedko will begin soon.

The $200,000 fine is one of the highest in the county for an illegal-dumping case. An Anaheim paint company paid $250,000 in January for dumping toxic waste in landfills.

Kralick said Ryan analyzed the toxic data, reviewed Ster’s past record and looked over photographs of the sites showing the contamination.

“The judge had obviously spent a long time to analyze all the facts and determine this wasn’t an unintentional disposal,” Kralick said.

The felony charges stem from 1989 and 1990 raids on Griffin, at 2115 S. Hathaway St. and at Cedko, 3002 Oak St. The raids were conducted by the county’s hazardous-materials strike team, which investigates illegal dumping. But problems at the two plants date back eight years, when a county health inspector first found the contaminated soil at Griffin Electronics.

“We found three different metals deposited at two different locations six months apart in 1989 and 1990. Mr. Ster had previously been convicted of the same thing, and he had injunctions filed against him about five years ago,” Kralick said.

Advertisement

Ster, who was born in Austria, served a day in jail and paid a $10,650 fine in 1988 on a misdemeanor conviction for throwing hazardous waste into a trash bin and illegally hauling it between the two companies. Also three years ago, the district attorney filed a civil case against him, which was recently merged into the criminal case.

The copper and chrome waste poses no immediate health threat in the industrial area unless workers come in contact with it. The contaminants were found in the soil in concentrations 60 times higher than the legal limit, although ground water apparently is unpolluted.

Advertisement