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Former Executive of Richmond Wastewater Treatment Business Sentenced to Three Years in Jail and Ordered to Pay $1.3 Million Fine

Release Date: 9/2/1999
Contact Information: Donna M. Heron (215) 814-5113

Richmond, Va. -- James Ming Hong, the former de facto owner and director of Avion Environmental Group, Inc., Richmond, Va., was sentenced today to three years in prison and ordered to pay a $1.3 million fine for dumping contaminated industrial wastewater into the City of Richmond’s sewer system.

This is the highest jail term ever imposed on a Clean Water Act negligence case and the $1.3 million fine is the highest individual fine ever imposed on a defendant in the mid-Atlantic region. It is also the highest fine in a federal criminal case in Virginia.

Ming was convicted in May after a three-day trial of 13 counts of dumping untreated petroleum-related wastes into Richmond’s sewer system.

The details of the charges, conviction and sentencing are spelled out in the attached press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Richmond.

This is the second conviction in the case. Last year L. Robert Kirk, former general manager of Avion, pleaded guilty to a felony violation of the Clean Water Act and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The case was investigated by the Environmental Protection Agency; the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Mid-Atlantic Field office; the FBI; and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.