WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - A Kansas metal finishing business and its owner have asked a federal judge for “a measure of leniency” as they face sentencing for discharging untreated industrial wastewater into a city sewer system, then submitting to regulators fraudulent water samples and reports to conceal the dumping.
C&R Plating and its owner Kevin L. Cline will be sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Topeka. They pleaded guilty in December to knowingly introducing pollutants into the sewer and water treatment system of the north-central Kansas community of Minneapolis, which they knew could cause personal injury and property damage. The illegal dumping deposited excessively high zinc levels into the sludge from the city’s sewer lagoon.
Their attorney in a court filing Thursday asked the court to impose a sentence of probation without a fine so Cline could continue to operate the business and make restitution to the city. The company has employed between 25 and 33 residents over the past seven years in Minneapolis, Kansas.
The defense filing included a bevy of letters from supporters lauding Cline’s years of community service in which he donated to charity and served as a school board and city council member.
“Defendants C&R Plating and Kevin Cline come humbly before this Court seeking a measure of leniency, not only for the benefit of the business and himself, but for the benefit of the people and the community that depend on them,” defense attorney Brett Jarmer wrote. “Mr. Cline is deeply sorry for the harm that he has caused the City of Minneapolis and is committed to providing restitution to remedy that harm.”
His attorney also told the court that Cline is now negotiating with the city on restitution agreement terms, noting the cost of the cleanup and dredge of the sewer lagoon is expected to total $530,000. C&R Plating last month installed new filtering technologies to ensure that wastewater going into the system is within permit limits.
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