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Defendants Ordered to Pay Fines to Maryland Clean Water Fund
BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney
General Anthony G. Brown today announced the convictions in the Circuit
Court for Montgomery County for Robert H. Dupey, 51, of Randallstown,
and Jaime A. Beza, 33, of Berwyn Heights, for violations of Maryland
environmental laws regarding the discharge of pollutants in Montgomery
County.
The
investigation was led by the Attorney General’s Environmental and
Natural Resources Crimes Unit (ENRCU) and the Montgomery County
Department of the Environment.
The
investigation revealed that on April 18, 2024, Dupey and Beza, who were
both employees of JPG Plumbing and Mechanical, Inc., a plumbing, HVAC,
and industrial vacuum services company, were scheduled to vacuum out
water and sludge at a location in Montgomery County. Beza and Dupey
picked up Truck #85 from JPG’s business lot in Laurel but discovered
that the tank was too full of grease and other pollutants to complete
the job. In order to quickly empty the tank, rather than making the
approximately two-hour round-trip drive to properly dispose of the waste
at the Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Facility in Washington, D.C.,
they instead agreed to simply empty Truck #85 by illegally dumping its
contents.
“Illegally
dumping toxic waste into our waterways is not just reckless—it’s an
outright betrayal of the responsibility businesses and their employees
have to our communities,” said Attorney General Brown. “This kind
of lawlessness endangers public health, harms our environment, and will
not be tolerated. We will continue to aggressively prosecute those who
put their convenience over the safety of Marylanders and our natural
resources.”
To
illegally empty the truck, the defendants drove to the Ashton Village
Center, located on Olney Sandy Spring Road in Ashton, Montgomery County,
Maryland, and parked behind a 7-Eleven convenience store. There, they
worked together to empty the truck’s contents into a manhole in the
alleyway behind the 7-Eleven. Surveillance video from the Ashton Village
Center captured the vacuum hose being removed from the truck by Dupey
and the manhole being opened by Beza.
The
manhole where the defendants illegally dumped the waste drains directly
into Ashton Pond, which is part of a residential community. The waste
deposited by the defendants polluted the pond, filling the pond and its
drainage pipes with grease.
A
concerned citizen reported the incident to the authorities, who
responded and placed absorbent booms to absorb the discharge. JPG
Plumbing and Mechanical ultimately agreed to clean the site with costs
of the cleanup exceeding $69,000.
On
December 30, 2024, Beza pleaded guilty to discharge of a pollutant
before the Honorable Ann Harrington of the Circuit Court for Montgomery
County. Beza was sentenced to 364 days in jail, all suspended, with
supervised probation and a $2,000 fine payable to the Maryland Clean
Water Fund.
On
January 29, 2025, Dupey pleaded guilty to discharge of a pollutant
before the Honorable Eric Johnson of the Circuit Court for Montgomery
County. Dupey was sentenced to probation and a $1,000 fine payable to
the Maryland Clean Water Fund.
Attorney
General Brown thanked his Criminal Division, specifically Environmental
and Natural Resources Crimes Unit Chief D’Arcy Talley, Chief
Investigator Thomas Waugh, and Assistant Attorney General Eileen Murphy,
who prosecuted these cases. Attorney General Brown also thanked State’s
Attorney for Montgomery County John McCarthy for his assistance in this
prosecution, as well as the Montgomery County Department of the
Environmental Protection for their response to the discharge and
cooperation in this prosecution.
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