An employee of a San Diego County business that provides porta potties was convicted of two counts of perjury for lying to a federal grand jury.
Ronald B. Fabor, 55, was the Operations Safety and Compliance Manager of Diamond Environmental Services.
He testified to a federal grand jury that he had never seen the company’s trucks hooked up to illegal sewer connections at Diamond facilities.
He also told the grand jury he first learned about the illegal dumping in August 2016, during the execution of a search warrant at a Diamond facility.
A federal jury convicted Fabor of perjury for both statements.
Diamond owner Eric De Jong pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the federal Clean Water Act for his role in the dumping.
Warren Van Dam, chief operating officer of the company, pleaded guilty in May to participating in the conspiracy.
Both are scheduled to be sentenced on November 13.
Diamond Environmental Services pleaded guilty to mail fraud on June 1 for trying to avoid paying dumping fees.
The DOJ said Diamond employees regularly discharged sewer waste collected from thousands of porta potties directly into public sewers. The offenses occurred between 2009 and 2016.
“Van Dam and De Jong further directed employees to construct and install specific equipment to allow for these discharges, concealing the illicit sewer connection from inspectors by placing a portable toilet over the connection during inspections,” the DOJ said.
When federal agents searched Diamond’s facilities, they found a diagram of toilet waste tank hoses with the words “to the sewer lines,” the DOJ said.
Fabor now faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Sentencing is set for January 8.
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Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog.
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