Good investigative work leads to solid waste charge in Tioga County

On Jan. 13, Department of Environmental Conservation Officer Brent Wilson received a report of a large amount of garbage dumped along Fisher Settlement Road in the town of Spencer. 

Officer Wilson located a NYSEG bill in the trash with an address for a residence in Spencer. Using this evidence, the officer determined the resident associated with the NYSEG bill was recently deceased and the house had been taken over by the bank holding the mortgage.

Bank officials informed Officer Wilson that they had hired a management company to oversee the property. 

With this information, Officer Wilson contacted the management company and was told that they had hired a contractor from the Rochester area to clean out the property. From there, the job had been sub-contracted to another Rochester-based individual. 

After working his way through this chain of contractors and sub-contractors, Officer Wilson contacted the final sub-contractor and obtained a confession. 

The officer met the individual at the scene on Feb. 17, ordered him to clean up and properly dispose of the waste, and issued the subject a ticket for the unlawful disposal of solid waste.