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Waste-Hauling Company Owner Gets Probation For Dumping In San Gabriel River

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The owner of a Sante Fe Springs waste hauling company was sentenced to five years probation Monday for dumping 11,000 gallons of waste water and soap into the San Gabriel River.

David Lee Flury, the 62-year-old owner and operator of Flury Industries Inc. pleaded guilty last year to a felony charge of water pollution. Prosecutors asked for him to serve 18 months in prison, but he was instead given a probationary term by U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson.

Flury - who had previously been indicted on multiple felony counts, including water pollution, mail and wire fraud, witness
tampering, destruction of evidence and identity theft - admitted nearly $750,000 in Santa Fe Springs city funds were spent cleaning up the soapy waste that he illegally dumped into Los Coyotes Creek.

The creek is a tributary of the San Gabriel River, one of the three most important waterways in Southern California. It flows into the Pacific Ocean at Alamitos Bay between the cities of Long Beach and Seal Beach.

The grand jury indictment alleged that Flury used interstate wire communications and the mail system to defraud about 17 customers out of more than $350,000 after promising to pick up their various waste products and transport the waste for disposal at a facility licensed to receive and dispose of such waste products.

(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)

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