After years of hauling hazardous waste around the state of California and leaving  it in places it should not be, Roy Paul Gressly is going to jail.   On January 7, 2014, Gressly was sentenced to four months in jail and three years’ probation for six felony charges involving the unlawful disposal, storage and transportation of hazardous waste.

According to an investigation by DTSC’s Office of Criminal Investigations, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Santa Fe Springs Fire Department, Gressly operated several commercial hazardous waste transportation businesses under different  names.  He accepted hazardous waste from customers for delivery to authorized disposal facilities.  Instead of delivering the waste for proper disposal, he stockpiled it at three unauthorized locations in the Los Angeles area and abandoned some of the waste at two of those locations. A spill from a leaking tanker truck prompted the investigation that discovered the violations.

Gressly  pleaded no contest to six felony violations and has been ordered to pay more than $228,000 in restitution to former customers and landlords who had to clean up illegally stored and abandoned hazardous waste, and to pay a criminal fine of $7,500 plus applicable assessments, surcharges and penalties. Due to Gressly’s illegal activities, his former customers and the owners of properties where the illegally stored and abandoned waste was found, had to pay clean up costs.  In addition, public funds were needed to clean up the waste. During his probation, Gressly is prohibited from working in the hazardous waste business.

“This man single handedly put the health of others at risk,” said Alan Barcelona, president of the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA) which represents DTSC investigators.  “The DTSC investigation resulted in the successful prosecution of Gressly and should put others, who are doing this same illegal activity , on notice.”