Press Release  Owner of Lawrence Auto Shop Pleads Guilty, Sentenced for Illegally Dumping Oil and Putting Merrimack River at Risk

Salem — The owner of a Lawrence auto repair shop has pleaded guilty and been sentenced in connection with illegally dumping over two thousand gallons of hazardous waste oil into the Lawrence sewer system, which discharges into the Merrimack River, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today. 

Andres Pichardo, age 52, of Lawrence, pleaded guilty Thursday in Essex Superior Court to three felony counts of disposing of hazardous waste in a manner that could endanger human health or the environment, and without a license from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP).Following the plea, Judge Salim Rodriguez Tabit sentenced Pichardo to five years of probation and 100 hours of community service and ordered him to pay $5,000 to the Massachusetts Natural Resource Damages Trust, which funds restoration projects, including those related to oil and chemical spills across the state.

“Mr. Pichardo recklessly and illegally dumped thousands of gallons of waste oil into the sewer system, imperiling public health and creating a risk of harm to the river,” AG Healey said. “At a time when the public is rightly alarmed about Merrimack River pollution, my office is working to protect the river.”

The AG’s Office began an investigating the matter in March 2016 after a referral from the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division (EPA-CID).

“MassDEP and its Strike Force, along with its enforcement partners at the Attorney General’s Office and the Environmental Police, did the difficult work of investigating and developing this case and uncovering the evidence that lead to this week’s conviction,” said MassDEP Commissioner Martin Suuberg. “MassDEP will protect our natural resources from those who would seek to cut corners and, thereby, do it harm.”

In September 2015, rather than pay for proper disposal of his hazardous waste, Pichardo, and an employee who was following Pichardo’s instructions, illegally dumped more than 2,000 gallons of used automotive waste oil down the drain at his auto repair shop. The drain connected to the Lawrence sewer system, whose contents discharge to the Merrimack River after treatment at the Greater Lawrence Sanitary District or discharge untreated via combined sewer overflows during wet weather events.

The Massachusetts hazardous waste statute and implementing regulations clearly spell out the requirements for those licensed to manage and dispose of hazardous waste, including waste oil. Knowingly failing to comply with the requirements for the proper handling and disposal of hazardous waste in a manner that could endanger human health, or the environment is a felony.

These charges stem from an investigation by the Massachusetts Environmental Crimes Strike Force, a longstanding interagency unit which is overseen by AG Healey, Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew A. Beaton, and MassDEP Commissioner Suuberg. The Strike Force is comprised of prosecutors from the Attorney General’s Office, Environmental Police Detectives, and investigators, attorneys and engineers from MassDEP who investigate and prosecute crimes that harm or threaten the state’s water, air, or land and that pose a significant threat to human health. 

If members of the public know about environmental activity that they suspect is illegal and/or places the public's health or our natural resources at risk, that activity can be reported to the Strike Force at 888-846-5283.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorneys General David Clayton, Chief of AG Healey’s Environmental Crimes Strike Force, and Bernadette Hayes, also of AG Healey’s Environmental Crimes Strike Force, with assistance from Victim Witness Advocate Amber Anderson of AG Healey’s Victim Witness Services Division, detectives with the Massachusetts Environmental Police assigned to the Strike Force,  the AG’s Digital Evidence Lab, Special Agents from EPA-CID, Stephen Spencer, Timothy Dame, Pamela Talbot, and James Paterson of MassDEP,  the City of Lawrence, the Greater Lawrence Sanitary District, and the engineering firm Woodard & Curran.

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