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YOUNGSTOWN -- Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has sued Sebring Industrial Plating Co. and three men associated with the company over hazardous materials the suit alleges they allowed to be stored at the facility.
The Ohio and U.S. Environmental Protection agencies said they later cleaned up the wastes.
Defendants in the lawsuit, filed in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, are Richard J. Sickelsmith of Beechwood Drive in Columbiana; Brian Hopper, 24, of Summit Street in Alliance; and Samual Hopper, 26, of Gibbs Avenue NE, in Canton -- all of whom were convicted criminally in relation to the business.
The suit is called a "complaint for injunctive relief and civil penalty." It seeks civil penalties of at least $25,000 for each of eight violations the three men are alleged to have committed and seeks an order preventing them from "receiving, storing, treating and / or disposing of any additional waste."
It also asks the judge to order the men to submit a plan to the EPA for proper closure of the facility.
The lawsuit states that Sebring Industrial Plating "generated numerous types of hazardous wastes and metals as a result of its plating operations." The company shut down in 2021, "leaving hazardous waste remaining and the building in unstable condition," the suit states.
Three assistant Ohio attorneys general with the environmental division filed the suit. It is assigned to Judge R. Scott Krichbaum and his magistrate, Tim Welsh.
GUILTY PLEAS
Sickelsmith owned and operated the company until 2019, the suit alleges. He then sold it to the Hoppers, who are cousins, according to county prosecutors.
Sickelsmith, 64, was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay $1 million in restitution in May 2022 after pleading guilty before Judge Anthony D'Apolito in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to a solid and hazardous waste charge involving the factory.
Sickelsmith was ordered to pay the restitution to the U.S and Ohio Environmental Protection agencies, which took care of the cleanup of the wastes, said Marty Hume, assistant county prosecutor. Sickelsmith was ordered to start paying the restitution at no less than $400 per month during the five years of his probation.
Brian Hopper and Samuel Hopper pleaded guilty before D'Apolito to attempting to operate a hazardous waste facility without a permit, a felony, and the judge ordered each man to pay restitution toward the $1 million cost of the cleanup. Each was ordered to pay at least $125 per month.
Atty. Walter Ritchie, who represented Brian Hopper in his criminal case, said of his client and his cousin, Samual Hopper: "I don't know what point there is" in suing the Hoppers for the money. "They don't have any assets."
Attorney Desirae DiPiero, who represented Samual Hopper in his criminal case, said she was not aware of the civil suit and had no comment. Atty. David Betras, who represents Sickelsmith, said he had not seen the suit and had no comment.
WASTE STORAGE
The lawsuit alleges that Sickelsmith "unlawfully stored approximately 47,000 gallons of hazardous waste at the facility. During their ownership and operation, Brian Hopper and Samual Hopper unlawfully stored 38,000 pounds of hazardous waste at the facility."
The suit alleges all three men are "jointly responsible for the cleanup of hazardous waste storage units and must submit and implement a closure plan approved by Ohio EPA."
The suit alleges that the company violated Ohio hazardous waste laws "since at least July 18, 2018, when Ohio EPA discovered that Sebring failed to evaluate waste generated in non-operating plating tanks and containers."
The Ohio EPA conducted inspections again Sept. 18 and Oct. 11 and Nov. 15, 2018, and found that approximately 5,400 gallons (45,600 pounds) of hazardous waste were being stored at the facility. Based upon this finding, Sebring was determined to be a "Large Quantity Generator," the suit states.
The company was issued notices of violation in November and December 2018 for establishing and operating an unpermitted hazardous waste storage facility "by storing hazardous wastes longer than 90 days," the suit states.
Sickelsmith removed some of the wastes but not all of them, resulting in another notice of violation in 2019.
The Hoppers purchased the factory in 2019, the suit states. They continued to accumulate hazardous wastes at the site from 2019 to 2021, the suit alleges. The site was abandoned on or before January 2021, the suit alleges.
The Ohio EPA had some of the waste removed from tanks in March 2021, and the U.S. EPA removed the rest in October 2021. But a hazardous waste closure plan still needs to be written and implemented, the suit states.
Hazardous wastes generated at the facility included "corrosive hazardous waste," the suit states. These included "toxicity" due to cadmium and chromium and other other hazardous chemicals, the suit states.
erunyan@vindy.com