Sewage mess leads to charges

After a system malfunction, the owners of a mobile home park had sewage thrown into a Dumpster, officials say.

By CAMILLE C. SPENCER
Published June 30, 2007

HUDSON - The sewage treatment system at Forest Green Mobile Home Park began malfunctioning Monday morning. Untreated sewage began collecting in the lift station.

Park owners Frank and Susan Page needed to do something about the mess. So, according to authorities, they told workers to scoop up the sewage and throw it into a Dumpster, where it ultimately headed to a landfill.

By Thursday, the Pages were in jail on charges of illegally dumping human waste.

Pasco County sheriff's deputies arrested Frank Warren Page Jr., 54, and Susan Lavonne Page, 51, at the mobile home park at 11337 Hudson Ave., where they also live. Each faces one felony count of commercial littering and one misdemeanor count of causing a nuisance to health.

They were each released on $5, 500 bail from the Land O'Lakes jail later Thursday. They did not return calls Friday for comment.

"The Pages deliberately disobeyed Florida's environmental laws, illegally discarding untreated sewage, " Henry Barnet, director of the law enforcement division at the state Department of Environmental Protection, said in a news release.

A citizen tipped off the DEP about the incident, the release said.

When DEP agents arrived at the mobile home park, the release said, they discovered that the malfunctioning lift station caused untreated sewage to back up.

Officials were unable to say Friday how much sewage had been thrown into the Dumpster, but they praised the public for reporting the incident.

"With the help of concerned local citizens, " Barnet said, "DEP law enforcement agents were able to quickly and efficiently solve this environmental crime."

Camille C. Spencer can be reached at cspencer@sptimes.com or 727 869-6229.

[Last modified June 29, 2007, 22:56:30]