Ohio attorney general sues landscaping company for illegal waste dumping

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has filed a complaint on Evans Landscaping, a landscaping company based in Anderson, Ohio. The company is accused of open dumping of solid waste and illegal disposal of construction and demolition debris at three facilities in Hamilton County, Ohio, since at least 2014, according to reports from WCPO-TV Cincinnati.

Prosecutors handling the case accuse the company and owner Doug Evans of illegal dumping at three sites in Anderson Township, according to court records.

“Defendants have been aware of the majority of these violations for over five years and have not corrected them,” the prosecutor’s complaint states. “Since 2014, the Hamilton County General Health District conducted over 20 compliance inspections at the sites, issued 17 notice of violation letters to defendants and met with defendants on numerous occasions to try to resolve the solid waste and construction and demolition debris violations at their sites.”

Evans could be fined up to $10,000 per day for the alleged violations, according to the complaint.

This isn’t the first time Evans has faced legal issues. In 2014, he had to pay $300,000 in fines to settle a complaint with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency over air pollution violations and had to lead a tree-planting project to serve as a windbreak for the dust emissions produced at the company’s operations in Hamilton and Clermont counties. The total cost of the project was $100,000.

In 2018, Evans was convicted of using a shell company to win millions in state and government demolition contracts during the recession meant for minority and small businesses. He served about two years in prison, according to a report from WCPO-TV.