Lebanon man starts sentence in gas dump case

LEBANON – A Lebanon man has reported to jail to serve his sentence in connection with a scheme to dump waste gasoline on back roads in York County.

Ken Horne, 58, formerly of D&D Auto, is serving a seven-day sentence in the York County Jail for turning hazardous waste over to a person who wasn’t licensed to handle it, according to Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe.

The charge against Horne dates back to November 2004, when Department of Environmental Protection inspectors visited D&D Auto and found 40 55-gallon drums of waste gasoline, which is classified as a hazardous waste because of its flammability at low temperatures.

The inspectors ordered Horne to get rid of the drums through a licensed hazardous waste transporter.

Instead, Horne enlisted the help of James Martin, owner of Jim’s Auto Repair in Lebanon, and Maurice Ducharme of Sanford, authorities said. But Martin and Ducharme weren’t licensed to handle the waste and didn’t use legal means to dispose of it, officials said.

“These guys decided to do it at the side of the road instead,” Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin said.

Martin, 47, is now serving 120 days for transporting hazardous material without a license. He was ordered to pay $1,000 in fines to help with cleanup efforts. He was also ordered not to contact some of the state’s witnesses, who he is alleged to have threatened.

Ducharme, 39, served 45 days earlier this year for disposing hazardous waste without a license.

The DEP spent about $10,000 excavating contaminated soils at a site in Alfred where the waste was dumped, Robbin said. The oil got into the groundwater, but it’s thought that it was cleaned up before it spread.

Rowe said the case shows that “the days when the public and state ignored small-scale polluters are officially over.”