Environmental Crimes Bulletin – November and December 2025

• No. 1:24-CR-00031 (Middle District of Georgia)
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Ethan Eddy
• AUSA Elicia Hargrove
• ECS Paralegal John Jones

On December 17, 2025, a judge convicted Dun Terrius Bradford on all 69 charged counts, following a two-day bench trial. Bradford was charged with animal fighting venture violations, manufacturing and possessing with intent to distribute cocaine base, and possessing five firearms in furtherance of those offenses (7 U.S.C. § 2156; 18 U.S.C. §§ 49, 924; 21 U.S.C. § 841).

Responding to a citizen’s complaint, authorities executed a search warrant at Bradford’s 17-acre property in February 2024. They rescued 67 fighting dogs and seized supplies used for training dogs to fight. They also found five firearms and evidence that Bradford manufactured crack cocaine in his kitchen.

The Department of Agriculture Office of the Inspector General and the Sherriff’s Office in Mitchell County, Georgia, conducted the investigation.

Trial exhibit depicting dogs on Bradford’s property

• No. 3:25-CR-04411 (Southern District of California)
• SAUSA Katherine Rookard

On November 14, 2025, prosecutors filed an indictment charging Jesse Agus Martinez with smuggling two orange-fronted parakeets, a protected species, in his pants (18 U.S.C. § 545).

On October 23, 2025, Martinez, a U.S. citizen residing in Tijuana, attempted to walk over the border at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. Customs and Border Protection Officers (CBP) diverted Martinez to secondary inspection after noticing a bulge in his groin area. The month before, Martinez attempted to smuggle a parrot into the United States, which had to be euthanized.

Martinez claimed several times that the bulge was his “pirrin,” a Spanish word for penis. Upon further inspection, officials found two bags, each containing one orange-fronted parakeet, in Martinez’s underwear. The birds were alive, but heavily sedated.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents and inspectors responded to the scene.  A wildlife inspector identified the birds as protected juvenile orange-fronted parakeets. The birds were initially cared for by Veterinary Services at the southern border, before being transferred to a Department of Agriculture Animal Import Center for quarantine.

Orange-fronted parakeets are native to Western Mexico and Costa Rica and are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Like many other types of wildlife,, birds must be subject to quarantine before they can be introduced into the United States. Smuggled birds that are  not quarantined may carry and spread Avian influenza (bird flu) and other diseases.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation, with assistance from U.S. CBP.

Photo of parakeet smuggled by defendant

• Nos. 2:24-CR-14046, 2:25-CR-14071 (Southern District of Florida)
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Adam Cullman
• AUSA Daniel Funk

On December 10, 2025, prosecutors charged Christopher Burdett in an information with conspiracy for his involvement in a Renewable Identification Numbers (RIN) fraud scheme (18 U.S.C. § 371). Burdett was the owner of a biofuel producer, located in Fort Pierce, Florida, which fraudulently claimed tax and environmental credits on biodiesel that it never produced. A court previously sentenced co-defendant Royce Gillham (the company’s former General Manager) to 37 months’ incarceration, followed by three years of supervised release. Gillham pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and conspiring to make false claims (18 U.S.C.§ 371).

Burdett’s biofuel company produced and sold renewable fuel and fuel credits and claimed to turn various types of feedstock into biodiesel. When reporting the number of gallons the company produced to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Burdett, Gillham, and others vastly overstated the production volume to generate more credits. When auditors sought more details from the company, the defendants gave them false information about their customers and fuel production.

The scheme generated more than $7 million in fraudulent EPA renewable fuels credits and sought over $6 million in fraudulent tax credits.

The U.S. EPA Criminal Investigation Division and IRS Criminal Investigations conducted the investigation.

• No. 3:25-CR-05045 (Western District of Missouri)
• AUSA Casey M. Clark

On December 17, 2025, prosecutors charged the former administrator, maintenance contractor, and company owner of a skilled nursing facility for their roles in a conspiracy to impede the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The defendants were also charged with making false statements and violating the Clean Air Act for illegally removing regulated asbestos-containing materials (RACM) (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1001; 42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(1)).

In December 2018, Goldner Capital Management, LLC (GCM), hired Juan Carlos Aguilar Gomez’s company to perform maintenance and renovation work at nursing homes within GCM’s investment portfolio. This included Bentonview Park Health and Rehabilitation, a long-term care facility located in Monett, Missouri. The facility had approximately 80 employees and provided senior and other assisted-living care to close to 70 residents.

As early as July 2020, GCM agents and employees, including former administrator Rebecca Massey, began planning to renovate the facility. The plans included removal and replacement of the existing linoleum floor tiling, which qualified as a regulated asbestos-containing material under EPA guidelines.

During the bidding process, other construction contractors and maintenance employees advised GCM, Massey, and Gomez that the floor must be tested for asbestos and recommended that they hire an asbestos-certified contractor to remove any RACM, which requires special handling and disposal precautions and procedures. No testing or asbestos abatement was conducted at the facility. Instead, GCM agents and employees engaged Gomez to conduct the proposed renovations. Neither Gomez, nor any of his employees were qualified asbestos abatement contractors, workers, or supervisors.

Gomez and his employees conducted the renovation from October 2020 through January 2021. During renovations, Gomez and his employees used equipment that generated visible emissions throughout the facility’s hallways, dining areas, and residents’ rooms. Additionally, Gomez and his employees failed to follow proper asbestos abatement procedures, which include  containment, wetting friable asbestos, and constructing decontamination units. They also disposed of RACM waste in an unlined, unsealed dumpster that was sent to an unauthorized landfill.

On January 20, 2021, Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) officials inspected the facility. Gomez told MDNR inspectors that he knew nothing about the presence of asbestos or permitting requirements before their inspection, both of which were false statements.

As the facility’s Administrator, Massey had been involved in the planning of the renovation and was fully informed of the presence of asbestos. On April 30, 2021, Massey falsely told OSHA inspectors that she was unaware of the renovation project involving the flooring before Gomez and his workers began work in December 2020. She also claimed that she knew nothing about asbestos until MDNR arrived at the facility.  Both were false statements.

The U.S. EPA Criminal Investigation Division and the MDNR conducted the investigation.

• No. 2:25-CR-00071 (Southern District of Ohio)
• ECS Trial Attorney Mark Romley
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Adam Cullman
• AUSA Nicole Pakiz
• ECS Paralegal Chloe Harris

On November 7, 2025, Katrina D. Favret pleaded guilty to conspiracy to create and distribute animal crush videos. She also pleaded guilty to creating an animal crush video (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 48(a)(2), (a)(3)). Favret and co-defendant Robert M. Craig conspired with previously charged defendant Ronald P. Bedra..

The defendants conspired with others to create and distribute videos depicting acts of sadistic violence against juvenile and adult monkeys. The conspirators used encrypted chat applications to direct money to individuals in Indonesia willing to commit the requested acts of torture on camera.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation.

• No. 2:25-CR-00129 (Eastern District of Virginia)
• AUSA Joseph Kosky

On November 17, 2025, Virginia Pump and Motor Company (VPM), a grease and septic hauling company, and its owner, Carroll Moon, pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. §§ 1319(c)(2)(A), 1342(b)(8)). Sentencing is scheduled for February 18, 2026.

Between 2022 and 2024, on at least 30 different days, VPM serviced grease traps from customers using company trucks. Under pretreatment regulations and the company’s industrial permit, VPM was required to take the waste grease to locations designated by the Hampton Roads Sewer District Publicly Owned Treatment Works for proper disposal. VPM and Moon, however, directed company trucks to discharge at other non-designated locations. By doing so the defendants avoided paying approximately $126,000 in fees for proper disposal.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.

• No. 2:25-CR-00083 (Eastern District of Kentucky)
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Matthew T. Morris
• AUSA Emily Greenfield
• ECS Paralegal Chloe Harris

On November 18, 2025, Natalie Fehse pleaded guilty to knowingly storing hazardous waste without a permit in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (42 U.S.C. § 6928). Sentencing is scheduled for March 30, 2026.

Fehse was the general manager at GoTec Plus Sun, LLC, located in Williamson, Kentucky. GoTec applied coatings and adhesives to metal automotive parts and generated hazardous waste  when the manufacturing equipment was cleaned of overspray. The Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection inspected the facility in June 2024 and discovered 249 drums and 27 cubic yards of hazardous waste stored without a permit throughout the facility.

On November 5, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seized records and samples from the facility pursuant to a search warrant. Fehse confessed that the hazardous waste had accumulated since the summer of 2020 due to staffing shortages and corporate financial constraints caused by the COVID pandemic.

The U.S. EPA Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.

• No. 1:23-00055 (District of Montana)
• AUSA Randy Tanner
• AUSA Ryan Weldon

On December 3, 2025, John Patrick Butler pleaded guilty to conspiracy and to violating the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Lacey Act. Butler trafficked in bald and golden eagles and purchased eagles and eagle parts that had been illegally taken (18 U.S.C. § 371; 16 U.S.C. §§ 668(a), 3372(a)(1), 3373(d)(1)(B)). Sentencing is scheduled for April 7, 2026.

Between January 2015 and March 2021, Butler, along with co-defendants Travis John Branson, Simon Paul, and others, conspired to illegally kill eagles on the Flathead Indian Reservation and offer eagle feathers and parts for sale to domestic and international buyers. Branson traveled from Washington to the Reservation and arranged for Paul to shoot and ship the eagles for him. Confederated Salish & Kootenai tribal authorities alerted U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) agents to the defendants’ activity.

In total, the defendants killed approximately 3,600 birds. They then sold eagle feathers and parts on the black market for significant sums of money.

In October 2024, a court sentenced Branson to serve 46 months’ incarceration, followed by 36 months of supervised release, and to pay $777,250 in restitution into the Lacey Act Reward Fund. Paul is a fugitive.

The USFWS Office of Law Enforcement and Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ Fish and Game Department conducted the investigation.

• No. 4:24-CR-00200 (D. Idaho)
• AUSA Justin Paskett

On December 4, 2025, Chad Michael Kulow pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(a)(2)(a), 3373(d)(1)(B)). Co-defendant Andrea May Major pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation of the Lacey Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(a)(1), 3372(d)(2)). Co-defendant LaVoy Linton Eborn is scheduled for trial to begin in July 2026.

In late 2021, Kulow, Major, and Eborn were licensed guides in the State of Idaho, employed by a licensed outfitter.  During late 2021, Kulow, Major, and Eborn began illegally acting in the capacity of outfitters, booking mountain lion hunting clients, accepting direct payment, and guiding hunts in southeast Idaho and Wyoming. They booked these clients independently, rather than under the auspices of the licensed and federally permitted outfitting service for which they worked. 

Between December 2021 and February 2022, the defendants unlawfully sold hunts and carried out guiding activities on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest in southeast Idaho and the Bridger-Teton National Forest in western Wyoming. The illegally guided hunts resulted in the kills of at least 11 mountain lions in Idaho, and another in western Wyoming.  The defendants submitted several Big Game Mortality Reports to Idaho Fish and Game that contained false outfitter business information, and at least three mountain lions were shipped directly to Texas without the required documentation.  The defendants were responsible for transporting illegally killed mountain lions from National Forest land to Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Alaska, Texas, and North Carolina.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, and the U.S. Forest Service conducted the investigation.

• No. 25-CR-60122 (Southern District of Florida)
• SAUSA Jodi Mazer

On December 4, 2025, Chris Anderson and Anderson Pest Control, Inc. (APC), pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) (7 U.S.C. § 136j(a)(2)(G)). Sentencing is scheduled for February 24, 2026.

APC provides structural fumigation and other pest control services. Anderson owns the business, which is licensed under the EPA-authorized Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DACS).

On April 20, 2023, APC submitted a notice of fumigation to DACS for a job located at Baer’s Furniture Warehouse. On April 22, 2023, two APC employees began fumigating the building with Zythor, a registered fumigant. The job required 126 cylinders for a total of more than 26,000 pounds of Zythor. Zythor is a registered and restricted use pesticide under FIFRA, meaning it could cause unreasonable adverse effects to human health and the environment and its use must be in accordance with the product label and accompanying materials.  

The spraying began at 2:00 a.m. and was not finished until about 7:00 a.m.  Anderson performed part of the job along with his employees. The two employees who performed most of the spraying began feeling ill shortly after they finished and died just hours later. Anderson became ill and was hospitalized. The autopsy report showed both employees died from exposure to sulfuryl fluoride, the active ingredient in Zythor. 

Fully aerating the structure took approximately five days, as monitors continued to register high and unsafe Zythor readings. Further investigation determined that multiple cylinders continued to leak despite responding personnel’s attempts to tighten the valves. Of the 126 cylinders used to fumigate the warehouse, 67 were not completely closed and continued to leak. The defendants’ use of Zythor was inconsistent with the product’s labeling, in violation of FIFRA.     

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.

• No. 25-CR-03056 (Southern District of California)
• AUSA Jacqueline Jimenez

On December 8, 2025, Carlos Abundez pleaded guilty to smuggling 14 keel-billed toucans, which he concealed inside the dashboard of his Volkswagen Passat (18 U.S.C. § 545).

On June 25, 2025, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents detained Abundez at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry at the U.S.-Mexico border after a canine reacted while screening the car. Upon further inspection, a CBP officer found a bound bird, wrapped in cloth and duct taped under the car’s dashboard.

At the time, the officer did not know what the object was until it began to move and flutter. Officers then pried open the side panel of the dashboard and discovered 14 sedated juvenile keel-billed toucans concealed within the compartment. Some of the birds sustained injuries including broken tails and a broken leg. Border Veterinary Services initially treated the birds and then transferred them to a Department of Agriculture Animal Import Center for quarantine.

Keel-billed toucans are native to the region stretching from southern Mexico through Ecuador, including Venezuela, Colombia, and Nicaragua. Because of their threatened status, they are listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. Toucans are sold as pets for up to $5,000 per bird.

Smuggled birds that are not subject to quarantine can be dangerous as they may carry and spread Avian influenza (bird flu) and other diseases.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation. 

• Nos. 7:25-CR-00097, 7:24-CR-00104 (Eastern District of North Carolina)
• AUSA David Berak

On December 15, 2025, American Distillation, Inc. (ADI), and company owner Andrew Simmons pleaded guilty to charges related to their illegal discharge of chemicals into the Cape Fear River over a four-year period. ADI pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act (CWA) (33 U.S.C. §§ 1311, 1319(c)(2)(A)) and Simmons pleaded guilty to tax violations (26 U.S.C. § 7203). Sentencing is scheduled for March 3, 2026.

ADI is a chemical processing company located beside the Cape Fear River that blends and markets industrial-grade ethyl alcohol. ADI regularly receives large quantities of tert-Butyl alcohol (TBOH), which it distills into a usable product. TBOH is a highly flammable, colorless, oily liquid with a sharp alcohol odor, and is designated as a pollutant under the CWA. During distillation, ADI created and stored byproducts and wastewater, including TBOH, in a 250,000-gallon storage tank (known as Tank 14). ADI’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit requires the company to properly dispose of TBOH byproduct.

Barry Darnell White worked as a Production Manager for ADI. His responsibilities included overseeing the transfer of chemicals between tanks as well as monitoring the tanker trucks travelling in and out of ADI’s facilities. White reported directly to ADI’s corporate management. Between 2020 and 2024, White released approximately 2,500 gallons of liquid wastewater from Tank 14, five to six times per year. White connected a hose to Tank 14, which drained into a pipe connected to an outfall flowing directly to the river. White pleaded guilty to violating the CWA and is scheduled for sentencing in May 2026.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division and the EPA Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation.

• No. 1:25-CR-20850 (Eastern District of Michigan)
• ECS Trial Attorney Rachel Roberts
• AUSA Katharine Hemann

On December 17, 2025, Applied Partners, LLC, pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Air Act for illegally handling regulated asbestos-containing material (RACM) (42 U.S.C. §§ 7412(h), 7413(c)(1)).

Between September and October 2019, Applied Partners conducted a demolition project at a defunct industrial site in Saginaw, Michigan. Applied Partners knew that a structure at the project site known as the “Powerhouse” contained RACM but nevertheless instructed contractors to demolish it in violation of multiple National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutant work practice standards for asbestos.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.

• No. 2:25-mj-01106 (District of New Jersey)
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney RJ Powers
• RCEC Jason Garelick
• ECS Paralegal Jillian Grubb

On November 3, 2025, a court sentenced Angela Amponsa to pay a $10,000 fine and complete a two-year term of probation. Amponsa pleaded guilty to violating the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) (7 U.S.C. §§ 136j(a)(l)(A),136l(b)(l)(B)).

Amponsa owned the New Jersey African Caribbean Market in Hamilton, New Jersey. On two separate occasions, she sold the pesticides Sniper DDVP and Spri Gone to an undercover Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agent. Neither product is EPA-registered, as required under FIFRA.

Authorities executed a search warrant at the market and seized approximately 1,100 bottles of unregistered pesticides. When questioned, Amponsa admitted that she sold unregistered pesticides knowing they were illegal in the United States.

The U.S. EPA Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation. 

• No. 3:24-CR-00303 (District of South Carolina)
• AUSA Elle Klein
• AUSA Carrie Sherard

On November 19, 2025, a court sentenced Samuel Alexander Gray to 15 months’ incarceration, followed by three years of supervised release. Gray pleaded guilty to operating a dogfighting venture and being a felon in possession of a firearm (7 U.S.C. § 2156(b); 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1)). Gray will also forfeit the following: six firearms, 400 rounds of ammunition, and $35,650 (in cash or other assets) which represents the loss attributed to the defendant’s animal fighting venture violation.

In September 2023, Lexington County Sheriff’s Department and Animal Services responded to a concerned citizen’s tip about animals on a rural property. Investigators found a large fight pit with a carpeted floor, covered in blood. Lawn chairs were set up around the pit for spectating. Investigators found dog-training items and multiple dogs on the property. Many dogs wore heavy chains around their necks with weighted collars and bore injuries and scars consistent with dog fighting. Several animal carcasses and skulls were also found on the property. Authorities ultimately seized 14 dogs from Gray’s property.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department, and Lexington County Animal Services conducted the investigation.

• No. 4:24-CR-00061 (District of Idaho)
• AUSA Justin Paskett

On November 24, 2025, a court sentenced Michael T. Scott to pay a $9,500 fine and $15,000 in restitution to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG). Scott will also complete a four-year term of probation, during which he is banned from any hunting or trapping activities. Co-defendant Jerrod R. Farr was sentenced on November 6, 2025, to also pay a $9,500 fine and $15,000 in restitution to the IDFG. Farr will complete a two-year term of probation, during which he is banned from any hunting activities.

Farr owned and operated White Cloud Outfitters (WCO), a commercial outfitting and guiding business. He sold and facilitated Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep hunts in an area of the Salmon-Challis National Forest that is closed to commercial guiding. Working as a licensed guide for WCO, co-defendant Scott illegally guided two of those hunts.

Both defendants pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act for conducting illegal big game hunts (16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(a)(1), 3373(d)(2)).

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game conducted the investigation.

• No. 2:25-CR-00005 (Western District of Washington)
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Ryan Connors
• Former ECS Trial Attorney Sarah Brown
• ECS Law Clerk Amanda Backer

On December 3, 2025, a court sentenced Branden Trager and Mayhem Services, LLC, for violating the Lacey Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(a)(2)(A), 3373(d)(2)). Trager will pay a $100,000 fine, complete a three-year term of probation, and perform 180 hours of community service. Mayhem will pay a $75,000 fine and complete a three-year term of probation. Both defendants must make public statements on their websites and in a hunting trade journal apologizing for their criminal activity and promoting respect for hunting laws.

Trager owns Mayhem Services and operates guided hunting and fishing trips in the Pacific Northwest. Trager organizes hunts specifically targeting the harlequin duck, a rare sea bird prized by hunters. Washington State closed harlequin duck hunting season from 2022 to 2024, so Trager took three hunting parties to British Columbia, Canada, where it was still legal to hunt them. However, Canadian law prohibits non-citizens from obtaining guiding licenses. Trager conspired with a Canadian taxidermist to illegally shoot the harlequin and then export the mounts back to the United States.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and British Columbia Conservation Officer Service. 

• No. 1:25-CR-00069 (District of Hawaii)
• AUSA Michael Albanese

On December 3, 2025, a court sentenced Shane Takasane for violating the Lacey Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(a)(2)(A), 3373(d)(1)(B)). Takasane will complete a three-year term of probation, to include 45 days of home confinement. He will also perform 50 hours of community service and pay $10,000 in restitution to the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Between June and August 2023, Takasane arranged with divers to obtain Hawaiian yellow tang and kole tang, which he sold to a buyer in the continental U.S. without the required commercial fishing license. On multiple occasions between July 2023 and June 2024, Takasane also imported snakehead fish, which are considered injurious to local wildlife, and Asian arowanas, a protected species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation, with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

• No. 1:24-CR-00216 (District of North Dakota)
• AUSA Jonathan O’Konek

On December 5, 2025, a court sentenced Targa Badlands, LLC (Targa), to pay a $500,000 fine, complete a three-year term of probation, and perform 500 hours of community service to benefit the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation.

Targa pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Air Act, related to its operation of six natural gas compressor stations on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation (42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(1)). 

Between 2018 and 2022, Targa operated the Johnson Compressor Station. At startup, Targa was required to install two continuous parameter monitoring systems (CPMS) at the station. Targa did not install this equipment, as required by the National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) until March and May of 2022. The failure to install a CPMS in a timely manner can lead to the unmonitored release of hazardous air pollutants into the environment.

In 2019 and 2021, Targa agreed to pay civil penalties to the United States and entered into consent agreements with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for separate NESHAP violations pertaining to natural gas compressor stations it operates on the Reservation.

The company self-identified, self-reported, and corrected the failure to timely install the CPMS and has since implemented policy and procedural best practices to improve its environmental permit review and implementation requirements.

The EPA Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.

• No. 3:25-CR-00138 (Middle District of Tennessee)
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Matt Morris
• ECS Trial Attorney Rachel Roberts
• AUSA Stephanie Toussaint

On December 15, 2025, a court sentenced Allwaste Onsite LLC d/b/a Onsite Environmental (Onsite) to pay a $512,000 fine. The company will also complete a three-year term of probation after pleading guilty to violating the Clean Water Act (CWA) for bypassing treatment processes in violation of its pretreatment permit (33 U.S.C. §1319(c)(2)(A)).

Onsite is an environmental management company that provides services related to non-hazardous liquid waste hauling and treatment. Onsite bypassed treatment processes and discharged untreated waste products directly into the sewer system at its Nashville facility, in violation of the Nashville Metro Water Services (MWS) pretreatment permit program. Plant supervisors directed employees to send untreated waste directly to the sewer when the equipment was broken or the plant exceeded its capacity to properly process waste. Those same supervisory employees tried to cover up the illegal discharges by manipulating a sampling device that MWS installed at the facility to monitor the company’s discharges.

The $512,000 fine represents $16,000 per day of bypassing. As a special condition of the probation, Onsite must comply with a previous state court consent order entered into with MWS to enact a facility operating plan. Additionally, as part of the consent order, Onsite paid $86,628 to MWS for expenses related to sewer repairs and clean-up, $299,576 for surcharges related to pollutant exceedances, and $50,387 for water and sewer charges. The defendant was also required to implement several plant and equipment upgrades. Employees Caleb Randall and David Stark are under indictment.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Criminal Investigation Division and EPA Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation. 

• No. 2:25-CR-00052 (Southern District of Ohio)
• ECS Trial Attorney Mark Romley
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Adam Cullman
• AUSA Nicole Pakiza
• ECS Paralegal Chloe Harris

On December 16, 2025, a court sentenced Robert Berndt to serve 38 months’ incarceration, followed by three years of supervised release, and to perform 100 hours of community service. Berndt pleaded guilty to conspiracy for his involvement with online groups dedicated to creating and distributing videos depicting acts of extreme violence and sexual abuse against monkeys (18 U.S.C. § 371).

Berndt conspired with co-defendants Ronald P. Bedra, Garrett Fitzgerald, and others to create and distribute so-called “animal crush videos,” which are videos depicting acts of sadistic violence against juvenile and adult monkeys. The conspirators used encrypted chat applications to direct money to individuals in Indonesia willing to commit the requested acts of torture on camera. Fitzgerald was sentenced on January 8, 2026, to 30 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and 100 hours of community service.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation.

• No. 1:25-CR-00100 (Western District of New York)
• ECS Trial Attorney Rachel Roberts
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Ryan Connors
• AUSA Aaron Mango
• ECS Law Clerk Amanda Backer

On December 23, 2025, a court sentenced Wei Qiang Lin to 24 months’ incarceration and to pay a $2,339 fine. Lin pleaded guilty to a felony Lacey Act violation for falsely labeling live turtles, snakes, and lizards as “toys” before exporting them in delivery boxes on a weeks-long journey to Hong Kong (16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(d)(1), 3373(d)(3)(A)(i)).

Between August 2023 and November 2024, Lin exported approximately 222 parcels containing around 850 turtles to Hong Kong. He labeled the boxes as containing “plastic animal toys,” among other things. The approximate market value of the turtles was $1.4 million. Law enforcement intercepted the turtles during customs inspections and found them bound and taped inside knotted socks within the shipping boxes.

Lin also attempted to export protected Abronia lizards, venomous green tree vipers (pictured below), and palm pit vipers.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation.