All-Out Sewer co-owner Randy Dingus gets 30 days, $15,000 fine

A federal judge on Monday fined All-Out Sewer & Drain co-owner Randy Dingus $15,000 and sentenced him to 30 days in prison for violating the Clean Water Act for his role in illegally dumping septic truck wastes into Longviews sewer system.

In addition, U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle sentenced Dingus to one year of supervised release with 40 hours of community service, 60 days of location monitoring and a $100 special assessment.

Dingus is allowed to self-report to prison, which usually occurs six to eight weeks from sentencing, according to U.S. Attorneys Office spokeswoman Emily Langlie. The Bureau of Prisons will send Dingus a letter instructing him where to go, Langlie said. He likely will be imprisoned at the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac but could be assigned to a different federal prison, such as the one in Sheridan, Ore., Langlie said Monday.

At 3:30 a.m. Aug. 3, 2012, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agent witnessed Dingus as he pumped a septic collection truck into a sewer cleanout port behind All-Outs building at 3303 Washington Way in Longview.

In July, Dingus pleaded guilty to one count of violating the federal Clean Water Act and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in the trial of All-Out Sewer owner Ray Caldwell. Under Dinguss plea deal, federal prosecutors agreed not to criminally prosecute him for additional offenses, which the office says it has evidence of Dingus committing related to the case.

The government had requested a sentence of three months and a fine of $25,000 for Dingus, who owned 10 percent of the business. In documents filed with the court, Dinguss attorneys lobbied for a lighter sentence of 180 days electronic home monitoring and 100 hours of community service.

Dinguss attorney, Zenon P. Olbertz of Tacoma, said Dinguss illegal dumping occurred fewer than a dozen times and over a time period of less than a year. Dingus did not benefit financially from his actions, Olbertz argued. In the five to six years Dingus owned a percentage of the business, he was paid $4,000, and in the other years Caldwell told him the business had lost money, according to the court documents. He couldnt afford to pay the $25,000 the government requested the court impose, Olbertz said.

He, at this time, has no means to pay a fine of such magnitude, Olbertz wrote in the defendants sentencing memorandum submitted Thursday. Other than the limited money paid to him discussed above, he received no benefit from Caldwell and All Outs illegal activities.

Caldwell will be sentenced March 10. On Dec. 16, Judge Settle found him guilty of all 33 counts he faced: 25 felony counts of violating the federal Clean Water Act, six counts of mail fraud and two counts of making false statements.

Caldwell was accused of pumping septic waste from his collection trucks into the city sewer system on 25 different dates last year to avoid disposal fees of 10 to 25 cents per gallon. He also is accused of underreporting by hundreds of thousands of gallons the amount of septage he collected from customers.

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All-Out Sewer co-owner Randy Dingus gets 30 days, $15,000 fine