Dump site discovery leads to culprit

Sequim Gazette Staff

The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office chain gang helped solve an illegal litter dumping case after coming across a heap of trash on a roadside.

Sheriff’s deputies and members of the chain gang were collecting litter along a road when they discovered a dump site that included a car trans axle and four large bags of trash, jail superintendent Ron Sukert said.

Mail was found among the litter and a deputy contacted the person named on the mail. During the interview, the deputy was told the man named on the mail sent his girlfriend to the landfill with the trash and $20, Sukert said.

The girlfriend admitted to deputies she never made it to the landfill and instead dumped the garbage, Sukert said. The case was sent to the Prosecutor’s Office to be considered for the misdemeanor/gross misdemeanor diversion referral program.

It is illegal to discard litter on public or private property or in the water. The crime is a misdemeanor if the amount of dumping is greater than a cubic foot but less than a cubic yard in volume. It is a gross misdemeanor if the amount of the litter is more than a cubic yard. Sukert said in addition to a fine and/or jail sentence, litter law violators must pay a litter cleanup restitution payment twice the actual cost of the cleanup or $50 per cubic foot of litter, whichever is more.

The court also may order the person to pick up and remove the litter.