A plan to turn old 55-gallon drums into burn or barbecue barrels became a “goofy situation” when the barrels, some of which still contained some substances, were instead abandoned along roadways in western Erie County, the lawyer for one of the men involved in the incident said in court on Wednesday.
That decision earned one of the men involved a year of probation and 100 hours of community service.
David B. Cassady, 61, of West Springfield, told Erie County Judge John J. Mead he was sorry for his actions as he stood before the judge for sentencing on his guilty plea to a second-degree felony count of unauthorized processing of hazardous waste.
Mead told Cassady the sentencing could have gone very badly for him because of the high guidelines on the charge.
“We take environmental crimes very seriously, and I think you are taking it seriously,” the judge told him.
Mead ordered Cassady to serve the first 30 days of his restrictive punishment sentence on electronic monitoring and to do 100 hours of community service.