This week Judge Anthony D’Apolito ordered a man to pay $1 million in restitution after pleading guilty to a solid and hazardous waste charge involving the closed Sebring Industrial Plating facility.
63-year-old Richard J. Sickelsmith was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay $1 million in restitution to compensate the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Environmental Protection Agency for the cost of removing the hazardous material and restoring the site to a safe condition.
Assistant Prosecutor Martin Hume handled the case.
Sickelsmith was ordered to pay at least $400 of restitution per month during the five years of probation.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency investigation revealed that Sickelsmith once owned the property where approximately 38,000 pounds of hazardous waste were stored.
The company didn’t have a permit to store the hazardous materials at the facility.