Randy Soper, of R.T. Sanitation in rural Northern Wisconsin, was recently sentenced to 30 days in jail after being prosecuted by the Wisconsin Attorney General’s office for illegal disposal of septage at and around a homemade, unpermitted disposal plant. A Circuit Court judge sentenced Soper to the jail time, ordered him to pay $20,000 to $30,000 in fines and penalties and remediate the wooded property where the dumping took place. The conviction was announced by the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

Soper was convicted on three misdemeanor counts of land applying sludge without a permit and was set to begin serving his jail term in the past two weeks, according to the Justice Department.

A 13-page criminal complaint outlines a three-year undercover investigation of Soper’s operations. It is available at this link: http://www.doj.state.wi.us/news/files/complaint021910.pdf

According to the complaint, a warden for the state Department of Natural Resources set up surveillance of Soper’s operation and witnessed R.T. Sanitation trucks dumping sewage in the woods and along gravel roads. The warden also interviewed former R.T. Sanitation employees who said they routinely dumped loads of waste on the property at Soper’s direction.

The complaint stated that Soper built and operated a homemade treatment plant where sludge was pumped through several tanks and screens, and then eventually discharged from a pipe onto the ground. According to the complaint, Soper told authorities that it would cost too much to hire an engineer to design a dewatering plant, so he built the system himself.

The complaint stated that waste was repeatedly dumped near a creek on the property that emptied into the larger Oconto River.