LIMA – A Lima man who eluded state environmental prosecutors for several months appeared in court Monday and entered guilty pleas to illegally disposing of scrap tires within the city of Lima last year.
William Gipson, 38, is the fourth individual to plead guilty to charges related to the illegal transport and disposal of used tires as alleged by the Ohio Attorney General’s environmental enforcement division.
Gipson was indicted in October of last year on two counts of the illegal open dumping of solid waste/scrap tires without a registration certificate and two counts of the illegal open dumping of scrap tires, all unclassified felonies. He remained at large while three of his co-defendants were sentenced in relation to the tire-dumping scheme.
Prosecutors said Lima residents Jonathan White and John Schlesselman and Defiance resident Charles Farsht aided Gipson in the illegal transport and disposal of at least 50 scrap tires in a vacant lot at the corner of Main and 12th streets on the city’s south side.
White, 28, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of illegal emission of an air contaminant, an unclassified misdemeanor, and was sentenced to a 90-day jail sentence and a $1,000 fine — both of which were suspended.
Schlesselman, 50, who operates TJ’s Auto in Lima, pleaded guilty to causing scrap tires to be illegally transported. He received a suspended 90-day jail sentence and was fined $1,000, with $750 of that total suspended. As part of a plea agreement, Schlesselman also agreed to clean up — at his own expense — the tires that he had caused to be dumped at the corner of Main and 12th streets. Farsht, 35, in December accepted a negotiated plea agreement for his role in the illegal-tire dumping scheme.
In exchange for Gipson’s guilty plea on Monday, Assistant Ohio Attorney General Ken Egbert said the state agreed to dismiss two remaining identical counts. Egbert also recommended Gipson receive a 90-day jail sentence, three years of probation and 100 hours of community service when he is sentenced April 16.
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