A Longmont man and his company were ordered to pay $20,000 in fines for illegally dumping sewage into a public irrigation ditch connected to a water reservoir.
John Albert Paquette, 53, and his company, East Point, were sentenced Monday in federal court for illegally discharging sewage into Union Reservoir, according to a news release from Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the U. S. Attorney’s Office in Colorado.
Paquette was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine, and his company was also ordered to pay a $10,000 fine, the release states.
Paquette pleaded guilty in early April to knowingly dumping 1,000 gallons of raw sewage from a hose into the Oligarchy Ditch, which flowed into Union Reservoir in Longmont.
“Dumping sewage into a public irrigation ditch that leads to a public water reservoir has serious environmental and health consequences,” said U.S. Attorney John Walsh in the release. “The defendant in this case now knows there are criminal penalties for his conduct.”
Ryan Parker: 303-954-2409, rparker@denverpost.com or
