LIMA – A Lima man described by representatives of the Ohio Attorney General’s office as the “lead individual” in a scheme to transport and dump used automobile tires at three locations on Lima’s south side was sentenced Monday in Allen County Common Pleas Court.
William Gipson, 38, was sentenced by Judge Jeffrey Reed to 90 days in the county jail and three years on probation on charges of the illegal transport of scrap tires and the illegal open dumping of solid waste, both unclassified felonies. He also received suspended two-year prison sentences on each of the charges.
Gipson’s court-appointed attorney, Greg Donohue, said his client was far from the mastermind of the crimes and instead was merely “just a cog” in the operation who was seeking to supplement his meager income.
Gipson was one of four northwest Ohio residents targeted by the Ohio Attorney General’s environmental enforcement division for dumping the tires at sites inside the city. Special prosecutor Ken Egbert, appointed by the Ohio Attorney General’s environmental enforcement division, said investigators first became aware of the tire-dumping scheme some two years ago. Egbert said Gipson illegally transported and dumped 130 scrap tires at three separate locations. Lima resident John Schlesselman, 50, reportedly paid Gipson $1 per tire to transport the tires.
Schlesselman, 50, who operates TJ’s Auto in Lima, earlier 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 agreed to clean up — at his own expense — the tires that he had caused to be dumped in the city.
Two other co-conspirators, Lima resident Jonathan White and Defiance resident Charles Farsht, have also been sentenced in connection with the scheme. Farsht, 35, was sentenced to two years of probation and was ordered to perform 40 hours of community service. 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.
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