Arrest warrant issued for junkyard owner

MEDDYBEMPS – Police have been asked to be on the lookout for a junkyard owner now that the state has issued a warrant for his arrest.

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 cleanup of the junkyards has cost more than $2 million.

Smith was sentenced to six months in jail by a Superior Court justice after a July 8 hearing. He was supposed to report to Washington County Jail in Machias by 9 a.m. Monday, July 21, to begin serving his sentence.

The day came and went, and Smith did not appear.

“I have moved to revoke post conviction bail, and we’ve obtained a warrant for his arrest,” Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin said Monday.

Smith’s attorney, Schuyler Steele of Newport, said Monday he was not aware his client had not appeared.

“I haven’t heard from him,” Steele said. “The last time I would have spoken with him was the last time we were in court.

“I have communicated with his office to let him know about new developments like the court’s order, but other than that, I haven’t spoken with him directly since his last court date,” the attorney said.

Steele said he did not know if his client was in or out of the state.

“He has been very diligent about making his necessary court appearances, and I assumed that he had turned himself in,” he said. “I assume there is going to be a logical explanation when he does turn himself in, which I am sure he will do.”

He said if Smith contacted him, he would advise him to surrender.

Smith has faced numerous charges in the past for environmental violations at his junkyards. The Meddybemps junkyard in this case is located on Route 191, just south of the town’s community center.

In 1999, Smith was convicted of intentionally violating Department of Environmental Protection orders not to accept more tires at the tire stockpiles of his junkyards in Meddybemps.

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 an order to clean up 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 cylinders had been cut up on the junkyard in violation of the order, discharging asbestos. Smith 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.