GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (AP) – The owner of a Long Island titanium factory has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison for storing 12 tons of corrosive hazardous waste on his property, resulting in a mess prosecutors say looked like a scene from a horror movie.
Investigators found dozens of drums oozing green liquid and trash littering the 125-acre site in Port Jefferson Station, a village 50 miles east of New York City.
Seventy-five-year-old Gerald Cohen pleaded guilty last year to violating the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which governs how people dispose of hazardous waste. He’s been ordered to repay $105,000 for the cleanup and faces fines that could run into the millions of dollars.
Cohen’s plant made titanium sheets used primarily for the aeronautics industry.
Defense lawyer Anthony LaPinta has declined to comment.
AP-ES-05-29-09 2103EDT
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