SIMI VALLEY : Textile Plant Owners Admit to Polluting
The operators of a defunct textile manufacturing plant in Simi Valley have pleaded guilty to two felony charges related to the discharge of hazardous pollutants from their Easy Street plant, which closed in 1989.
Richard Virgil Bates, 54, and Kenneth Arthur Baber, 46, entered their pleas in federal court Jan. 18 and will be sentenced April 4, said Marc Harris, assistant U.S. attorney.
Bates faces 10 to 16 months in prison and Baber six to 12 months. Their former company, Melody Knitting Mills, has agreed to pay $45,000 in fines and restitution to the Simi Valley County Sanitation District for violating the federal Clean Water Act.
The Environmental Protection Agency became involved in the case against Bates and Baber in 1988, after the city of Simi Valley had made repeated attempts to reduce the hazardous flow from the plant where textiles were dyed and printed.
“Simi Valley went to such great lengths to try and get these people to come into compliance and they basically thumbed their noses at the local authorities,” Harris said. The company continued to allow solvents, chlorine and acidic fluids to flow into their waste water even after the EPA ordered it to stop in 1988, Harris said.
Melody Knitting Mills, also known as Travelin’ West Textiles, discharged between 200,000 and 500,000 gallons of waste water per day before the company closed in January, 1989.
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.
