Wetlands Polluter Sentenced

An oil hauler who spilled hazardous waste into the largest wetland refuge in Southern California, killing dozens of birds and offering a sharp reminder about the fragility of the region’s ecology, pleaded guilty Wednesday and was sentenced to 45 days in jail.

In addition to the jail sentence, Richard Ogle Sr., 63, will pay a $20,000 fine, most of which will be routed to wildlife rescue and rehabilitation agencies. He will also serve 200 hours of community service, half of it at the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center of Orange County.

At an afternoon court appearance, Ogle entered his guilty plea on a felony charge of discharging a pollutant into navigable waters and three misdemeanors: killing a migratory bird, killing a protected brown pelican and failing to oversee proper storage of hazardous waste.

He was also sentenced to five years of probation and, through a separate agreement with state environmental regulators, has forfeited his license to handle hazardous waste.

Attorneys on both sides of the case agreed that Ogle, who had no prior record, will spend his “jail” sentence on home detention.

“He’s not in this line of work anymore,” said his Brea defense attorney, Dean Hall. “There were various forms of punishment, and the one that really isn’t needed is for him to be behind bars. He’s a solid citizen and he appreciates the seriousness of this.”

Hall directed Ogle not to talk to the press about the case. A representative reached at Ogle’s Santa Ana company, Dick’s Vacuum Truck Service--which has been turned over to his son, Richard Ogle Jr.--would not comment.

On Dec. 13, 1998, Ogle Sr. went to a maintenance yard run by the city of Garden Grove. Ogle had a contract with the city to remove debris and waste, including waste oil, at the yard, prosecutors said.

But instead of sucking out the waste and taking it to a licensed handler, Ogle dumped 200 gallons of spent oil into the yard’s storm drain, the district attorney’s office charged. The waste wound its way through 13 miles of pipes and spilled into the Bolsa Chica preserve.

The largest wetlands remaining in Southern California, Bolsa Chica has become a gathering place for wildlife, including waterfowl. Investigators confirmed that more than 50 birds--including coots, grebes and ducks--died within a week of the spill. Scientists surmised that hundreds more might have died without being found.

Within days, investigators had tracked the spill to the Garden Grove waste yard, and determined that Ogle had the contract to service the site. They later used search warrants to seize chemical samples from Ogle’s business, and matched them to samples taken from the storm drain and from Bolsa Chica, said Lance Jensen, a deputy district attorney in the environmental crimes unit of the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Ogle was dubbed a “midnight dumper” after the incident.

“You are looking at the crown jewel of wetlands here in Orange County,” Jensen said in an interview. “Two hundred gallons is a lot and it resulted in at least 50 birds dying as well as a massive cleanup. It doesn’t take that much when you are dumping into an ecological preserve.”

One of the misdemeanors Ogle pleaded guilty to did not stem from the spill, but from a separate investigation into hazardous conditions at his business. Ogle’s wife, Pat, who was a part owner of the business, was also initially charged through that investigation. But through Wednesday’s plea agreement, she will not be prosecuted, Hall said.