AVON, CT – MAY 28, 2002
Michael Rosenberg of 6 Lyme Road in Avon, Connencticut was sentenced on May 28, 2002 to 18 months imprisonment after having pleaded guilty to illegally disposing of hazardous waste at two wooded locations in Farmington and Naugatuck, Connecticut.
The charges stemmed from a joint federal-state investigation following the discovery in March 2000 of two drums of hazardous chemical wastes that had been dumped in the woods off Reservoir Road in Farmington. Rosenberg was arrested on a federal criminal complaint arising from these charges in December 2000. According to a sworn affidavit filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, Rosenberg owned and operated a dry cleaning business named ?Avenue Cleaners? at 428 Rubber Avenue in Naugatuck from approximately August 1995 to August 1999. On March 22, 2000, several months after Rosenberg discontinued operations at that address and moved his business to a new address, two drums of tetrachloroethylene waste from Avenue Cleaners were found dumped and spilling in the woods off Reservoir Road in Farmington. The dumping resulted in contamination of the drinking water wells supplying two nearby homes on Reservoir Road.
In federal court proceedings in March 2001, Rosenberg pleaded guilty to illegally disposing of the two drums of waste found in Farmington and to causing the disposal of tetrachloroethylene waste in the woods adjacent to his former dry cleaning business in Naugatuck.
In the sentencing proceedings on May 28, 2002, United States District Judge Christopher F. Droney imposed a sentence of 18 months imprisonment to be followed by a 3-year term of supervised release. Judge Droney deferred, pending further hearing, an order of restitution; Rosenberg faces a potential restitution order or more than $200,000 to cover clean-up costs.
The case was jointly investigated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division and Connecticut?s Chief State?s Attorney?s Office, with assistance from the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection and the Town of Farmington Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Meyer and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Tamberlyn E. Conopask, who serves as Assistant State?s Attorney with the Environmental Crime Unit of the Chief State?s Attorney?s Office.
