8/12/2024
WT Staff
 August 12, 2024 407 pm EDT
CWA CrimeBox
Environmental Crimes Historic Conviction: Fiscal Year 2006; Case ID# CR_1302(California)
San Diego Circuit Board manufacturer and personnel convicted on conspiracy to illegally discharge pollutants
One of 72 Clean Water Act Criminal Prosecutions in the State of California (from 1989-2023)
The defendants in this case are a San Diego-based circuit board manufacturing company and three individual defendants engaged in the operations and/or management of the company. The process of printing circuit boards involves metal plating and etching with copper, gold, and nickel, tin plating and solder, along with chemicals for preparing and finishing the boards. The process wastewater from the facility contained a number of pollutants, subject to a discharge permit limiting the levels of pollutants discharged into the municipal wastewater system.
The corporate defendant and two key personnel defendants were charged with 14 violations of Clean Water Act, knowingly discharging pollutants without a permit. A third individual was charged with two counts violation of the Clean Water Act. The company and two individuals were also convicted on a conspiracy charge, taking part in tampering with the autosampler equipment in the manhole in front of the facility.
The federal district court judge sentenced the corporation and individual defendants to federal fines, periods of probation and a restitution amount payable to City of San Diego Metropolitan Industrial Waste Program.
Federal Fines: $47,487 all defendants; Restitution: $17,917; Probation: 36 months each individual defendant, 60 months corporate defendant
CWA CrimeBox briefs are compiled from EPA Criminal Enforcement records.
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