Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has announced the filing of criminal charges against a South Elgin, Ill., recycling company in connection with the chemical dumping that resulted in a fish kill in a creek that leads to the Fox River.
A Kane County grand jury returned an indictment against D & Y Trade, Inc., a South Elgin recycling business; Yu Tan Zheng, the company’s CEO; and An Hong, an employee, on one felony count each of water pollution and additional charges of misdemeanor water pollution.
The criminal charges are the result of the collaborative efforts of the Attorney General’s Office, the South Elgin Police Department, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the South Elgin Fire Department, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard.
The Attorney General’s office coordinated the multi agency investigation after South Elgin Police received a complaint from an area resident that he had discovered foam and dead fish in his backyard pond and the nearby creek, located near the D & Y Trade facility. Arriving at the scene, police observed an individual at the business allegedly pouring the contents of a blue plastic drum into a storm drain at the D & Y facility. The drain flows to a creek, which empties into the Fox River. A sampling of the material taken from the storm drain has been identified as an industrial cleaner toxic to fish and slow to biodegrade.
The Attorney General’s Environmental Crimes Bureau Chief, Paula Becker Wheeler, and Assistant Attorney General Colette Kennedy will prosecute the case. The Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office is assisting with the prosecution.