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MISSOURI RESTAURANT, FOUR INDIVIDUALS INDICTED FOR ILLEGAL DUMPING
Release Date: 03/26/2001
Contact Information:
FOR RELEASE: MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2001
MISSOURI RESTAURANT, FOUR INDIVIDUALS
INDICTED FOR ILLEGAL DUMPING
Luke C. Hester 202-564-7818/[email protected]
Venetian Harbor, Inc., of Portage Des Sioux, Mo.; Venetian’s President/Treasurer, Warren Spielman of St. Louis, Mo.; Venetian’s Vice President/Secretary, Jered Lee Bonbrake of Alton, Ill.; and two Venetian employees, Thea Preston of St. Charles, Mo., and Rush Templeton of Florissant, Mo.; were each indicted on March 15 on charges of conspiracy and Clean Water Act violations. The indictment states that from 1995 to early 1999, Venetian operated a restaurant/tavern on a converted tow vessel moored on the Mississippi River. The charges allege that on a total of 15 specific occasions, the defendants chose to illegal discharge raw sewage from the vessel into the Mississippi River and its adjacent connecting ditches. If convicted, the corporation faces a maximum sentence of over $500,000 in fines. The individual defendants each face a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison and/or up to $250,000 in fines on the conspiracy charge and a maximum of up to three years in prison and/or up to $250,000 in fines on each count of illegal discharging, if convicted. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division; the St. Charles, Missouri County Sheriff’s Department; the St. Louis, Missouri County Sheriff’s Department; and the Madison County, Illinois Sheriff’s Department. It is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in St. Louis. An indictment is merely an accusation, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty in a court of law.
R-45 ###
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