Guesman Pleads Guilty in D&L Dumping Case
CLEVELAND – The former employee of Hardrock Excavating Co. who was caught illegally dumping drilling waste into a sewer that ended up contaminating portions of the Mahoning River pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of violating the Clean Water Act.
Michael Guesman, 34, changed his plea to guilty in U.S. District Court in Cleveland per an agreement reached with prosecutors. Details of the plea agreement were not available.
Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 11, according to court papers.
Guesman and the owner of D&L Energy Inc., Ben Lupo, were each indicted by a federal grand jury in February with one count of violating the Clean Water Act.
According to the government, Lupo, who also owned Hardrock, on multiple occasions ordered Guesman to illegally dump contaminated water hauled from oil and gas drilling sites into a storm sewer on D&L's property on Salt Springs Road.
That sewer led to a small tributary of the Mahoning River, and investigators say the practice occurred multiple times at the site.
The wastewater is a byproduct of hydraulic fracturing, a process that injects sand, water and chemicals into wells at high pressure to fracture tightly packed shale rock to release gas and oil.
Lupo has pleaded not guilty in the case.
The government says that Lupo ordered his employees on at least 20 occasions to dump the contaminated water into the storm sewer.
According to the indictment, on Nov. 1 2012, Guesman emptied one of the storage tanks into the storm drain. The act was repeated "over the next several months, on numerous occasions."
Court papers say the last time Guesman discharged the wastewater was Jan. 31 of this year, when an official from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources observed him dumping waste in the drain.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
CLICK HERE to subscribe to our free daily email headlines and to our twice-monthly print edition.