United States of America v. Teunis Jan Willemsen

Toledo, Ohio criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with negligently discharging a pollutant in violation of 33 U.S.C. 1311.

Reported by Kent Morlan

Teunis Jan Willemsen, a citizen of the Netherlands residing in Frankton, Indiana, was serving as the manager of Heartland Dairy, when investigators found that a discharge was being pumped from a settling basin on the dairy’s property into a nearby ditch that drained into a waterway. The discharge was analyzed and found to consist of manure and silage leachate, which contained concentrated amounts of ammonia—a pollutant—that resulted in the death of approximately 789 fish and 1,371 other aquatic animals.

The case was investigated by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Special Investigations Unit, with support from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

The Defendant was found guilty and was sentenced to 15 months probation; 100 hours community service; $25,000 fine; $25.00 special assessment
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