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Silver Spring Exterminating Company Sentenced for Improper Pesticide Disposal - Discharge Caused Significant Fish Kill in Rock Creek

Release Date: 11/5/2002
Contact Information: Donna Heron, 215-814-5113

Donna Heron, 215-814-5113

PHILADELPHIA – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that Pied Piper Pest Control of Silver Spring, Md., and Charles Lewis Thomas III, 50, of Berwyn Heights, Md., were sentenced Nov. 4 for discharging pesticides into Rock Creek causing a fish kill in May, 2000.

U.S. District Court Judge Deborah Chasanow imposed a fine of $15,000 on Pied Piper and ordered the company to pay restitution of $5,000 each to Montgomery County and the State of Maryland for their response costs.

The court also ordered Pied Piper to comply with an August 2002 Consent Order with the Maryland Department of Agriculture. The consent order suspends the license of both Pied Piper and its owner Martin Rhode, for a total of 18 weeks over the next three years, during the height of the termite season, and requires that Charles Lewis Thomas either pass a state certified applicator examination or be personally supervised during pesticide applications.

Thomas was also ordered to serve six months of home confinement with electronic monitoring and placed on probation for two years. The court further ordered that Thomas comply with the work restrictions in the consent decree, wherever he is employed.

For complete details please refer to the attached press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

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