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FLORIDA RECYCLER SENTENCED TO 13 YEARS
Release Date: 08/19/99
Contact Information:
- United States Communications, Education,
Environmental Protection And Media Relations
Agency (1703)
Press Advisory
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FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 1999
FLORIDA RECYCLER SENTENCED TO 13 YEARS
Gary Benkovitz, (a.k.a. Gary Blake) President of Bay Drum and Steel Inc., in Tampa, Fla., was sentenced to serve 13 years in prison on Aug. 16, in U.S. District Court in Tampa for convictions in two separate cases. The first conviction was on charges of conspiracy to violate the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The second case involved violations of the two acts that took place while Benkovitz was awaiting sentencing for the first case. Benkovitz was also sentenced to three years probation. Bay Drum, which is now defunct, was sentenced to five years probation. Benkovitz and Bay Drum were in the business of acquiring, cleaning, reconditioning and re-selling 15- and 55-gallon drums. Between 1990 and 1999, the defendants dumped an estimated four million gallons of contaminated wastewater into Tampa sewers and also sent an estimated 170,000 pounds of hazardous sludge to Tampa’s city incinerator which was not designed to dispose of hazardous materials. The contaminants in the wastewater and sludge included lead and the pesticides chlordane and heptachlor, all of which can cause harm to humans, fish and wildlife. It is estimated that it will cost at least $130,000 to clean the three sites where Bay Drum conducted business. Benkovitz was ordered to pay at least $14,000 in restitution, but the court reserved final judgement on restitution pending an analysis of the defendant’s ability to pay. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center, the FBI, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department and is being prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice.
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