Dallas Crackdown on Dumping Yields Charges Against Recycler

An estimated 25 million pounds of waste -- including a demolished 30,000-square-foot building -- dumped in West Dallas have brought multiple felony counts and a vow that Dallas has gotten tough on illegal dumping.

"The gloves are off," City Marshal Joseph R. Polino said Dec. 20 on the grounds of an Ennis company indicted in Dallas County along with three individuals. "If you dump illegally in the city of Dallas, you're going to jail."

National Converting and Fulfillment Corp., a recycling firm based in Ellis County, faces five felony counts of illegal dumping and one felony count of theft totaling more than $100,000. A company executive faces identical charges, while two employees are charged with five counts of illegal dumping.

According to Polino and indictments by a Dallas County grand jury this week, the defendants dumped roofing shingles, tiles containing asbestos and other debris on a 3.5-acre tract in an industrial area of West Dallas. The company took money to recycle the material, "but in reality, they created an illegal landfill," Polino said.

Company owner Melvin E. Riecke, the father of one of the indicted men, said the charges were not true. "These things didn't happen," said Mr. Riecke, who said his company recycles waste paper, fiberglass and shingles for environmentally safe uses.

"We were taking the material for recycling," he said. "We try to do what's best for the environment. This is a ridiculous situation."

The charges are among nearly 60 felony and misdemeanor charges filed since Dallas County and the city boosted efforts to prosecute environmental crimes.

The city and county added environmental prosecutors this year under state grants. This summer, City Manager Ted Benavides transferred the city's Illegal Dump Team to Polino's office after years of spotty success and plunging morale under the civilian-run code compliance department.

"We are taking a law enforcement approach," said Polino. "People will wind up in handcuffs if they break environmental laws."

Deputy marshals took arrest warrants to National Converting and Fulfillment Corp.'s Ennis complex Friday morning in hope of apprehending Melvin Eugene Riecke II, 49, who faces one felony theft count and five felony dumping counts; Robert Lee Blades III, 21, who faces two felony dumping counts; and George Wesley Hardin, 32, who faces three felony dumping counts.

The case began in November 2001 when a Dallas code inspector came across the site at the end of Riser Street, a pitted, one-lane track running south from Singleton Boulevard just east of Chalk Hill Road. The site is tucked between other industrial plants and railroad tracks, not visible from busy Singleton.

Officers found thousands of tons of asphalt roof shingles, asbestos floor tiles, plastic and the debris from a demolished Payless Cashways lumber and hardware store that stood on Belt Line Road in Addison, Polino said. Tests by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that water at the site was contaminated with asbestos and other substances, he said.

The cleanup could cost $750,000, Polino said. Responsibility could fall to the company's insurer or, finally, to the owner from whom the company leased the West Dallas site, he said. He did not identify the owner.

The theft charges came about because the company and Mr. Riecke II took between $100,000 and $200,000 from Owens Corning Corp., GAF Materials and Addison Southwest Ltd. to recycle materials that were dumped instead, according to the indictments and Mr. Polino.

Because of the amount, the theft counts are second-degree felonies that could bring punishment ranging from two to 20 years in state prison.

Each dumping count is punishable by up to two years in state jail.

The elder Riecke said the company had tried to work with Dallas officials to resolve their differences, "but they wouldn't listen," he said. He denied that either the company or his son stole money: "I don't know what they're talking about." Dallas Morning News