TIRE DUMPER CAUGHT!

The tire industry has made leaps and bounds of progress in the last twenty years to reduce this countries almost 300 million discarded scrap tires every year.People in the industry who do not wish to comply with easily obtainable licensed scrap tire haulers or processors deserve what they get. Reuse, Reduce, Recycle
Task force nabs tire dumpers
Prolific North Side offender convicted, three others indicted in illegal hauling

Saturday, July 17, 2010 02:53 AM
By John Futty
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Illegal scrap-tire dump sites, such as this one on Martha Avenue in Franklinton, are a public-health issue, an official said.
Neal C. Lauron | Dispatch
Illegal scrap-tire dump sites, such as this one on Martha Avenue in Franklinton, are a public-health issue, an official said.
Terry Scott Hess, 48, was sentenced to seven years for dumping of tires and for burglaries at tire stores.
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Terry Scott Hess, 48, was sentenced to seven years for dumping of tires and for burglaries at tire stores.

Terry Scott Hess boasted to a Franklin County judge last week that he has been in the tire business for 22 years.

There was just one problem with that career: Hess wasn't licensed to haul or dispose of the scrap tires that he dumped throughout the county.

"He's one of the most experienced illegal haulers that we know of," said Assistant County Prosecutor Heather Robinson of the Environmental Crimes Task Force of Central Ohio.

The career will cost Hess, 48, seven years in prison. Common Pleas Judge David W. Fais sentenced him to six years for open dumping and illegal transportation of tires, and one year for burglaries at two tire stores.
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He was caught hauling or dumping tires fives times, beginning shortly after he was released from prison in September 2008 on a conviction for receiving stolen property. Surveillance cameras twice captured him dumping tires behind an abandoned car dealership on Morse Road.

Hess, of 2149 Aberdeen Ave.on the North Side, isn't alone in the illegal scrap-tire business. Three other central Ohioans were indicted last week on charges of illegal transportation of tires.

They are Terry Hess' brother, Rickey L. Hess, 52, of Utica; Stephen A. Green, 59, of 742 Hines Rd., Gahanna; and Rodney Hall, 54, of 173 E. Hinman Ave. on Columbus' South Side, who told investigators that Terry Hess trained him.

The charges are part of an increased focus by the task force on scrap-tire dumping, Robinson said. Five defendants were convicted of illegal dumping or hauling tires in Franklin County in 2009.

"It's a public-health issue," she said. "Discarded tires are a perfect incubator for mosquitoes."

In Columbus alone, crews cleaned up 621 tons of illegally dumped tires in 2009, said John Remy, spokesman for the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio. That equals roughly 62,000 passenger tires, he said.

The cost to taxpayers for the disposal of those tires: about $90,000.

But that was down from disposal fees of $114,700 in 2007 and $105,300 in 2008.

"We believe that by getting these people off the streets, we're cutting into the number of tires being dumped illegally," Remy said.

The authority funds the task force, which was created 16 years ago. In addition to Robinson, it includes two Franklin County deputies and representatives from the Columbus Refuse Division and the Franklin County Health Department.

Disreputable used-tire dealers cut costs by relying on unlicensed haulers to pick up their junk tires, Robinson said. Some of the tires are sold to other used-tire dealers and the rest are dumped illegally.

Rickey Hess has a used-tire shop in Utica, investigators said. He was arrested for making several trips to Columbus to dump his junk tires behind a tire dealership on N. Hamilton Road under the cover of darkness. The task force thinks Rickey Hess dumped 150 to 200 used tires behind the store, hoping its licensed hauler would take them away.

Green was stopped by task-force investigators as he illegally hauled tires on Granville Street in Gahanna.

And deputies said Hall was captured by surveillance cameras as he dumped tires behind an apartment complex on Ferris Road, and was caught by Franklin Township police while illegally hauling tires.

"If we catch them hauling, we prevent the dumping," Robinson said.

She thinks the task force's crackdown is getting the attention of lawbreakers.

"Most of these individuals know each other," she said. "I know they share information about our unit's tactics. When we arrest someone, they'll say, 'I know you caught so-and-so.' They're following our enforcement efforts."

Residents can report illegal dumping 24 hours a day at www.nailadumper.com or by calling 614-871-5322.

jfutty@dispatch.com
Posted by HOWARDLEVY.COM at 8:39 AM
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