WASHINGTON (WTVF) — Two former managers of a Nashville waste pre-treatment facility have pleaded guilty to illegally discharging untreated waste into the Metro Nashville sewer system and tampering with monitoring equipment, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
David Ray Stark, the former plant manager at Allwaste Onsite LLC, doing business as Onsite Environmental, pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. Caleb Warren Randall, a former plant supervisor, pleaded guilty April 22.
According to court filings, the two men admitted to bypassing treatment processes at the facility in late 2022 and early 2023 and discharging untreated waste into Nashville’s sewer system. Prosecutors said the pair also directed employees to tamper with a sampling device installed by Metro Nashville’s Department of Water and Sewerage Services to monitor wastewater discharges.
Federal officials said the tampering involved removing the hose from the city’s sampling device and placing it into a bucket filled with cleaner water so the samples would not reflect the actual waste being discharged.
“The defendants repeatedly and intentionally violated the Clean Water Act by discharging untreated wastes into the Nashville sewer system,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
U.S. Attorney Braden H. Boucek said illegal discharges that threaten local sewer infrastructure “will not be tolerated.”
The Environmental Protection Agency said the illegal dumping clogged and damaged sewer infrastructure and posed a potential health risk to the community.
Stark and Randall each face up to five years in prison and fines of up to $250,000. Stark is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 19, while Randall’s sentencing is set for Aug. 4.
Last year, Onsite Environmental was sentenced to pay a $512,000 fine after pleading guilty to discharging waste into the Nashville sewer system. Metro Nashville also recovered more than $80,000 in sewer maintenance and repair costs, along with nearly $300,000 in unpaid surcharges, in a separate action.
Here’s a story offering a great example of how a common cause, and a little creativity, can “intersect” to improve quality of life. Our South Nashville reporter Patsy Montesinos shares how some neighbors decided to take action, following the tragic death of a 77-year-old in a hit-and-run along Antioch Pike earlier this year. See how they used “tactical urbanism” to make the area a little safer for all.
- Rhori Johnston
