Attorney General Thurbert Baker and Tom Durden, District Attorney for the Atlantic Circuit, announced today that a grand jury in Long County has returned a multiple count felony indictment of illegal dumping against Rodger Boykin. He is accused of abandoning 40,000 scrap tires that he allowed to accumulate illegally at a business that he operated at the Long County Industrial Park.

The indictment accuses Boykin of having the tires transported to his business, Imperial Rubber, where he was then to have the tires processed for disposal. Instead, the tires accumulated on the property, located next to a nursery school and a nursing home, and became a breeding ground for mosquitoes, as well as a general health hazard for the community.

In announcing the indictment, Attorney General Baker stated, “The illegal dumping activities in Long County have put an entire community at risk. This type of activity creates a breeding ground for mosquitoes at a time that the public has daily concerns about the West Nile virus. Our children and elder adults deserve better, and I will work tirelessly to see that justice is served in this case. The people of Georgia should be able to go to sleep at night without worrying about whether someone has illegally placed an environmental nightmare in their backyard.”

The indictment was sought after a joint investigation by the Attorney General’s Office, the state’s Environmental Protection Division and the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division. If convicted, Boykin faces up to fifty-two years in prison and a $900,000.00 fine.

The August 20, 2001 indictment includes 14 counts of Unlawful Transportation of Solid Waste, one count of Unlawful Processing of Solid Waste, two counts of Making a False Material Statement or Representation in a Manifest, and one count of Unlawful Storage of Solid Waste. The state’s initial estimates to clean up the site are running as high as $50,000.00.

No trial date has been set. Lee Ann de Grazia of the Attorney General’s Office and Atlantic Circuit Chief Assistant District Attorney Steve Archer will prosecute the Long County case.