Central Los Angeles
DIRTY OIL: The operator of a Mid-City trash-hauling business was fined $3,510 after pleading no contest to illegally transporting and disposing of used machine oil, which flowed into a city storm drain.
City prosecutors said a driver for L & K OK Rubbish Service transported two 55-gallon drums of sewing machine oil to the business, where L & K’s general manager, Michael Chulkum Chung,dumped their contents in a dirt yard. The oil flowed across the yard and into a city storm drain, Deputy City Atty. Vincent B. Sato said.
“It ends up in the ocean,” Sato said. “This businessman should have known anytime you have a spill of oil it’s hazardous material, so it has to be contained and cleaned up.”
A citizen who saw the oil in the gutter called Fire Department, which contained it and called police. Officers traced the trail to L & K. Chung then admitted he had dumped the oil, prosecutors said.
In addition to the fine, Chung, 55, of Buena Park, was sentenced to three years probation and a 30-day suspended jail sentence.
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