Judge Kevin P. Braig of the Logan County Court of Common Pleas sentenced Rodney L. Burnside II Wednesday to seven years in state prison for violating the terms and conditions of his community control that arose from his felony convictions for operating an illegal scrap tire dump in Logan County and receiving stolen property.
In July of 2016, former Logan County Common Pleas Judge Mark O’Connor ordered Burnside to pay $250,000 to clean up the scrap tile pile and placed Burnside on five years community control on his convictions for illegal transportation of scrap tires, failure to maintain registration of a vehicle, and illegal open dumping, all unclassified felonies.
Judge O’Connor also reserved consecutive prison terms if the defendant violated the terms and conditions of his community control.
According to an Ohio EPA press release dated April 20, 2015, more than 100,000 tires were located in the dump at 4971 County Road 130, Huntsville, which Burnside operated under the name Freedom Recycling & Recovery.
In September 2016, the Ohio EPA hired a contractor at an estimated cost of $500,000 to clean up the site. Burnside never reimbursed the Ohio EPA any of the $250,000 as ordered by the Court.
In revoking Burnside’s community control and imposing the prison sentence, Judge Braig found that Logan County is dependent on its natural environment to support its rural lifestyle and its travel and tourism industries and Burnside’s creation of a massive, unlicensed tire dump caused serious harm to the environment and all citizens of Logan County.
Judge Braig also found that the defendant’s business of operating an illegal scrap tire dump was by its inherent nature a business of organized crime because the tires did not just pile up randomly, but rather accumulated as the result of Burnside’s organization of transportation of scrap tires to the site and disposal of scrap tires at the site.