A Utah man was sentenced to 20 years in jail for illegally dumping pollutants in violation of federal clean water and hazardous waste regulations and for illegally possessing firearms and aggravated assault on law enforcement officers.

This includes the maximum jail term for Clean Water Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act violations. Last March, the man assaulted EPA and other law enforcement officers when they attempted to arrest him in Marathon, Florida.

In September 2007, he was indicted on charges related to illegally dumping various pollutants onto the ground and into a drain that led to the treatment plant operated by the South Davis Sewer Improvement District in West Bountiful, Utah, between October 2004 and April 2005. The treatment plant had a permit to discharge treated effluent to the Jordan River, which empties into the Great Salt Lake.

According to court records, the man instructed his employees to dispose of industrial wastes by dumping them onto the ground and into a sanitary sewer drain, which fed directly to the wastewater treatment plant. One of the wastes, nonylphenol, is a powerful organic chemical and heavy-duty industrial cleaner that is toxic to aquatic life. The actions allegedly caused the plant to violate permit limits for acute toxicity 22 times.

Previously, government officials from the local sewer district prohibited the man's company from discharging to the sewer system because its wastes had routinely exceeded limits for certain pollutants.

The man owned and operated a company that mixed and sold chemical products used in the trucking, construction, and concrete industries.

In April 2008, 2 months before his trial, the man became a fugitive when he failed to appear in court, as required by the conditions of his release and bond. In December 2008, EPA received a tip from the public regarding his potential whereabouts after the man was listed on the EPA's fugitive website (http://www.epa.gov/fugitives).