Troyer Pleads Guilty to Contaminating Waters of the State

OnSeptember 14, Jerry D. Troyer, a former employee of Effingham-Clay Service Company, Inc., a Growmark/Farm Service company, pled guilty to five criminal charges for violating the Illinois Environmental Protection Act in the Circuit Court of Clay County, Louisville, and was sentenced.  

The guilty plea was in response to Troyer’s indictment by the Clay County Grand Jury for discharging a contaminant into waters of the State. 

 

The charges resulted from a December 9, 2008, incident when Troyer discharged agrichemical contaminated waste water from a tank onto the roadway and into the adjacent drainage ditches in two different remote rural Clay County locations.  One of the ditches drained into an unnamed tributary of Big Muddy Creek and a channel to a nearby farm pond.  Samples taken by the Illinois Department of Agriculture inspector revealed that the discharged waste water was contaminated with the agricultural chemicals atrazine, acetochlor, metolachlor, 2,4-D and pendimethalin. 

 

Troyer was sentenced to 24 months conditional discharge, ordered to perform 150 hours of community service work, pay a fine of $10,000 plus costs and, within 30 days of sentencing, publish a written letter of apology for his actions in two Clay County newspapers of general circulation.  The apology must be directed to the property owner whose pond was directly threatened by the discharge, his former employer and co-workers and the citizens of Clay County. 

 

The State contended that with the exercise of reasonable care and diligence an experienced and safety-trained agrichemical worker should have known that the tank contained pesticide/ herbicide residue.

 

Troyer’s former employer, Effingham-Clay Service Company, Inc., previously pled guilty to two counts of negligent discharge of a contaminant to waters of the State without an National Pollution Discharge Elimination and Discharge System (water discharge) permit for a sentence of 12 months conditional discharge, a fine of $20,000, plus costs, and a $180,000 cash settlement of a related asset forfeiture claim. 

 

The case was investigated by the Illinois Department of Agriculture, Illinois EPA’s Emergency Response Unit and the Illinois State Police.  Illinois EPA attorney Dan Merriman served as court-appointed special prosecutor.