Contractor Now Victim of Dumping

Just when it seemed that Tom A. Staben’s legal troubles couldn’t pile up any faster, county officials said Thursday the contractor has fallen victim to the same crime he is accused of committing: illegal dumping.

Someone has tossed dozens of trash bags, grass clippings and tree branches onto vacant land Staben owns in north Camarillo, county health inspectors said.

Inspectors were alerted by a resident of a wealthy hillside neighborhood on Loop Drive, which commands a sweeping view of the city. The resident, who knows the contractor, said someone--not Staben--had unloaded mounds of trash there, officials said.

“Staben is probably the innocent victim of illegal dumping,” said Terry Gilday, the solid waste chief for the county’s Environmental Health Department. “It appears people have driven up and thrown trash and clippings on the lot. Quite a bit of it, actually.”

Since the Somis-based contractor owns the land, county inspectors have ordered Staben to clean up everything by July 8, or possibly face criminal charges.

Staben could not be reached for comment.

The warning comes as agencies, ranging from the district attorney’s office to the FBI, are investigating Staben on suspicion of illegal dumping. County inspectors have cited Staben repeatedly in recent years for dumping broken-down cars, dirt and old appliances into a Somis stream bed.

Staben also has been accused of violating federal environmental laws by digging tons of dirt from the Ventura River--with the county’s permission--during a road-repair project near Ojai this year. Federal officials say his crews may have damaged a waterway used by the endangered steelhead trout, as well as violated the Clean Water Act.

Despite the illegal dumping citations, the county Public Works Agency has awarded Staben $2.3 million in storm cleanup contracts since 1993.

Environmentalists, meanwhile, called for a quick cleanup of the Camarillo dump site.

“So the dumper gets dumped on?” quipped Russ Baggerly, secretary for the Ventura County Environmental Coalition.

Baggerly, a chief critic of Staben and the county Public Works Agency, said the latest citation demonstrates that illegal dumping is widespread.

“I would hope the problem of illegal dumping gets a closer look from everyone,” Baggerly said. “It’s really a problem. It costs money to haul trash away and put it in a landfill, and if a public agency has to do it, it’s taxpayer money.

“It sounds ironic,” Baggerly said of the latest citation against Staben. “But it happens so much, it could happen to anyone. Even him.”