Junkyard owner a no-show at Machias jail

MEDDYBEMPS – A local junkyard owner will be spending even more time in jail after being found guilty of violating terms of his probation.

But first, he has to get to the jail.

Harry Smith Jr., 62, was found guilty of violating probation orders requiring him to clean up his junkyards and to engage in no further environmental violations. The state has estimated that cleanup of the junkyards has cost more than $2 million.

He was sentenced to six months in jail by a Superior Court justice after a July 8 hearing, Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin said Tuesday.

Smith was supposed to report to Washington County Jail in Machias by 9 a.m. Monday, July 21, to begin serving his sentence.

He was still not in custody as of Tuesday afternoon.

If he fails to report to jail, Smith will be taken into custody by police and could be charged with bail violations, possibly exposing himself to further criminal liability, Robbin said.

“I am surprised that he isn’t there,” Smith’s attorney, Schuyler Steele of Newport, said Tuesday. “He is certainly a very law-abiding person. It’s certainly not his intention to flout any court orders.”

Steele was unsure whether Smith would appeal the court’s decision and had communicated with Smith only through family members since the news of the court order had been released.

Smith has faced a plethora of charges in the past pertaining to environmental violations at his junkyards.

In 1999, he was convicted of intentionally violating Department of Environmental Protection orders not to accept more tires at the tire stockpiles of his junkyards in Meddybemps, a Washington County town near Calais.

Smith has been free on bail pending the appeal of another conviction earlier this year. A jury accused him of criminal violations of Maine’s hazardous waste laws at the same junkyards.

This most recent punishment comes after Smith failed to comply with a cleanup order relating to thousands of compressed gas cylinders containing hazardous material and asbestos on his property. Smith illegally transported the containers over public roads in unregistered and unsafe vehicles.

In addition, the court found that cylinders had been cut up on the junkyard in violation of the order, discharging asbestos. He also failed to create firebreaks around the remaining tire piles and to remove salvage located within 300 feet of the Hatton Brook to prevent pollutants from leaching into the brook.

“He continues his pattern of simply ignoring the orders of the DEP and the court when it comes to complying with environmental laws,” Robbins said Tuesday. “All these times in jail extend the period of probation.”

Robbins had heard that Smith was requesting a weeklong stay, but no formal request had been made or granted, to her knowledge, as of Tuesday afternoon.

“We would object to a stay in any event,” she said.

Steele could not account for the whereabouts of his client and was surprised that Smith had not reported to jail on his own.

“If he didn’t report there, I can only assume that there’s a good reason why he’s been unable to, but that he will do so just as soon as he is physically able to,” Steele said.