Judge orders All-Out Sewer owner to pay $636,500 in restitution

TACOMA U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle on Thursday ordered Longview businessman Ray Caldwell to pay $636,500 in restitution for multiple violations of the Clean Water Act, well short of the amount federal prosecutors had requested from the owner of All-Out Sewer and Drain.

The money will go to three entities defrauded by All-Out between 2003 and 2012:

Hopefully this will be a lesson to people in the community who may take the water quality issues lightly, Cowlitz County Commissioner Michael Karnofski said upon hearing of the restitution.

The federal government had sought about 900,000 in restitution, which was whittled down in a closed-door conference during a recess in the hearing.

In April, Caldwell was sentenced to 27 months in prison and fined $250,000 after being found guilty on 33 felony counts related to years of illegally emptying his septic tank pumper trucks into the Longview sewer system in violation of the federal Clean Water Act.

He is out of prison while he appeals his sentence. No court date has been set for his appeal.

Minimum monthly payments of $5,000 will be made by All-Out, which is being run under probation by Caldwells wife, Joanne. Payment in full is expected by the time Caldwell finishes his prison term and supervised release, a total of about six years.

Caldwell is contributing $250,000 from a recently cashed-out retirement account and the check is in the mail, his attorney Wayne Fricke told the court. That payment will be allocated by the court clerk, and Fricke said it will likely all go to restitution.

Judge Settle said he expected the probation office to keep an eye out for timely payments and that more than $5,000 per month should be coming in from the business. Prosecutors had asked for Caldwell to make payments as well, but Settle said it wouldnt be necessary to meet the deadline since a large, initial payment would be coming in right away.

Fricke said it is unlikely Caldwell will appeal the restitution judgment, which will include about $51,000 in pre-judgment interest and post-judgment interest in an amount tied to the Treasury Bill rate.

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Judge orders All-Out Sewer owner to pay $636,500 in restitution