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PA CALIFORNIA BUSINESSMAN CONVICTED IN SLUDGE CASE

Release Date: 03/7/97
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PA CALIFORNIA BUSINESSMAN CONVICTED IN SLUDGE CASE

FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 1997

CALIFORNIA BUSINESSMAN CONVICTED IN SLUDGE CASE

Gordon Cooper was found guilty on Feb. 28, by a jury in U.S. District Court in San Diego, Calif., on five federal felony charges. The charges included one count of conspiracy, one count of violating of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and three counts of wire fraud. Cooper and Chino-Corona's co-owner Robert Vaughn had contracted with the city of San Diego to take the sludge from the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant and dispose of the sludge at a composting site on the TorrezMartinez Indian Reservation in Riverside County, Calif. Instead of composting the sludge, the defendants simply stockpiled it on tribal land until the sludge became a 200,000-ton pile. Sludge was also shipped to Mexico for disposal and to a farm for land application in Imperial County, Calif. These actions were taken without the approval of the appropriate state authorities. The defendants commited wire fraud by falsely billing and over-charging the city of San Diego by approximately $2 million. Vaughn previously pleaded guilty to one CWA violation. He has been sentenced to a six-month jail term, five years of probation and a $50,000 fine. This was investigated by EPA's Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI.

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