Police Would Not Press Charges Against a Trespasser

My question involves civil rights in the State of: VA

I own a commercial laundry service with an attached laundry mat. Because of the commercial laundry service we must have a dirt-oil- water separator according to county code and it must be maintained by a certified company by state and must keep a contract with them for maintenance.

2 years ago we switched from using acids and other toxic chemicals to a 002 (O3) system that is less toxic system. By doing so we switched to a 4 part tank system from a 3 tank system to install a filter system on the first tank to dissipate the OO2 into safe breathable air. There is also a 15' by 25' barbed wire fence around the in-ground tanks in case of power outages and our filter issues. The fenced area gives room for the OO2 to properly disparate into the atmosphere witch is legal.

Monday morning a representative from the water company that wanted to inspect our 3 part separator. The worker could only tell me that he was a city worker and was going to inspect our system. He could not provide any information on his qualifications he has. There was not a second person there because the inside of the fence where the system is installed is a enclosed space. He could not answer any questions about 002 and would not tell me if he a meter to see if it was a safe level for entry.

I gave him the number to our service contractor and told him he was not to enter the fence. We thought he left at that point.

A couple minutes latter I was called for an employee that there was someone inside the fenced in area. I called 911 for someone that had cut and entered my fence and was in a place that could possible contain a deadly level of OO2 gas and want to have them remove. As soon as I hung up the phone with 911 I called the contract company.

I have downloaded and read the water departments 435 page pdf. Under there rules for the waist water permit that I hold from them there is no place that gives the county the right to inspect the system as long as I keep a state certified contract company for emergency and maintenance issues.

I would like more information on my liability as the business owner.
The cops that showed up refused to press charges. I have gone to the police station 2 times with a video of him cutting the lock of the fence and they just give me the run around when I ask about pressing charges.
I contacted the contract company today to ask for an estimated bill and was told it would be between $10,00 and 15,000 for an emergency response, full inspection, and to replace vandalized equipment.
I talked to the fire chief and he told me that they would be sending a bill of $2,500 or more biased on the amount of resources dispatched and used.
I have filed an insurance claim. I'm not able to get any answers from them on how it will be handled.
I have tried to contact the county water department with no response; 2 times by voice and 3 times by e-mail.

Any suggestions on how I handle this?

If the police won't touch the guy, then you have to hire a civil attorney and sue the guy and/or his company for civil damages.

contact the prosecutor in your area. That is who actually determines whether to attempt to press charges on a person.



what is the fire department billing you for?

Aside from the lock, what equipment was "vandalized?"

What was the fire department billing you for?

And, as was suggested, if the police do not intend to forward any complaint to a prosecutor, you will either have to ask the prosecutor yourself (doubtful he will proceed, but you can ask), and/or look into a civil suit for actual damages done (which would be ... a padlock?).

He cut 2 locks to held the gate shut. One of the filter assemblies that sits on top of a manhole knocked on it's side damaging the medium. The new medium cost a little over $5,000 and should have had 90% of it's usable life left. Most of there cost is for there emergency response.

The fire department is thinking of charging me for dispatching 2 fire trucks at $600 each, 1 has mat truck at $600, 1 ambulance $500, and 200 for equipment charges.

I think I know where this is heading.
Thank you.

I don't know how things work out on the left coast Carl but it is not unusual for the prosecutor to file charges even if the police refused to do anything. The police are limited in their knowledge of the laws so often times they do not see a crime where the law school educated prosecutor does. In this situation the police may have forwarded their report to the prosecutor and if so, a conversation with the op may be the prosecutor's next step anyway.

as far as damages, the OP alluded to a possibility of up to $17,500 in damages that may be attributable to the trespassers actions.


unless this inspector can somehow claim a legal right to enter the premises, I am bothered by the police' refusal to act on their own.

Am I correct that I or my company could have been held liable for wrongful death if he would of died once he entered the cage. From talking to him he clearly did not know the common name for OO2 or had a meter to see if it was within safe levels; to me it clearly shows a lack of knowledge on working with the deadly gas.


Edit thanks for moving my post. I know after I posted I was off a bit.

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Quoting jk

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I don't know how things work out on the left coast Carl but it is not unusual for the prosecutor to file charges even if the police refused to do anything.

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Out here the prosecutor rarely has sufficient staff in their office to investigate crimes, much less write a report and initiate prosecutions for misdemeanors. If they have bigger budgets and more time on their hands back east, bully for them. That's not what I'm reading, though.

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as far as damages, the OP alluded to a possibility of up to $17,500 in damages that may be attributable to the trespassers actions.

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Most of which was the result of some emergency call which may or may not have been necessary. The OP is unclear as to how this damage was caused by some city inspector entering onto the property. The city is not liable for costs incurred by the OP's voluntary decision unrelated to any damage that might have been caused.

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unless this inspector can somehow claim a legal right to enter the premises, I am bothered by the police' refusal to act on their own.

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Which is why I am left to wonder what more there might be to the story.

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Quoting laundry

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He cut 2 locks to held the gate shut. One of the filter assemblies that sits on top of a manhole knocked on it's side damaging the medium. The new medium cost a little over $5,000 and should have had 90% of it's usable life left. Most of there cost is for there emergency response.

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How did those get damaged?

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The fire department is thinking of charging me for dispatching 2 fire trucks at $600 each, 1 has mat truck at $600, 1 ambulance $500, and 200 for equipment charges.

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Why did they have to respond? Was it the result of the inspector's ACTIONS? Or, did he uncover something that he felt was an unsafe or hazardous situation and HE made the call for the fire department response?

Can I get some clarifications from OP about this rather bizarre situation?

We are speaking about your onsite wastewater treatment and disposal system? Is that correct? You installed a tertiary plant using ozone as the final treatment?

Now you say that a water company employee came to inspect the system. Are you sure he was from the water company? Did he show you any identification? I don't know which county you are in but water company employees do not inspect treatment plants. That is done by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. The regulations are governed by the terms of your wastewater treatment permit and the Virginia Administrative Code (Virginia Waste Management Board Regulations). It is important to know exactly who this person was and which agency he was from if any at all.

I can't imagine that an inspector would damage anything let alone cut locks off the gates without the proper authority. And if this person was an inspector, he would have the authority to inspect the system during normal business hours. And if you did not let him do the inspection, he would have to get a warrant before he could cut the locks.

So your first order of business is to find out who this "inspector" was. You may find that nobody knows what you are talking about and returning you inquiries because this "inspector" is no inspector at all.

You should be contacting the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and find out if an inspector was sent out to inspect you facility first.

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Quoting budwad

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We are speaking about your onsite wastewater treatment and disposal system? Is that correct? You installed a tertiary plant using ozone as the final treatment?

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We prefilter / pretreat our waist water for foam, ph, oil, off gas the ozone we use, and reduce the suspended solids. We just have a couple tanks in the ground with some dosing pumps and filters.

By using ozone in our wash cycles we have greatly reduced the use of soaps, bleaches, acids, and other harmful chemicals.

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Quoting budwad

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Now you say that a water company employee came to inspect the system. Are you sure he was from the water company? Did he show you any identification? I don't know which county you are in but water company employees do not inspect treatment plants. That is done by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. The regulations are governed by the terms of your wastewater treatment permit and the Virginia Administrative Code (Virginia Waste Management Board Regulations). It is important to know exactly who this person was and which agency he was from if any at all.

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The person was driving had on a county shirt and was driving a county pickup. The water department did call me back this morning and did confirm that it was one of there employees and they wanted a discharge sample for testing. He was trying to get an discharge sample for the input chamber.

The county prosecutor has finally called me back and will sit down with me after noon today.

It's good to hear that you are making progress.

But I doubt under the circumstance that the prosecutor will file any charges against a city or town employee for criminal activity when they were acting under the color of their responsibility as a municipal employee. You will most likely be left with a civil action against the town for negligence and damages to recover your damages. I still believe that the employee had no legal authority to cut your locks without a warrant.

If you are left with only a civil remedy or cannot come to some sort of settlement, be a wear that your state probably has a tort claim act that has to be complied with to sue your town or city. You should look that up because notices have to be filed in a timely manner to let them know that you will be filing suit if it comes to that.

You really should be consulting an attorney if you intend to try and recover your damages.

It is the county that checks both sewer hookups and online processing (at least up here in Fairfax and Loudoun). Different offices handles each.
They pretty much ARE entitled to trespass in the name of public health on these matters. You'll not get ANYWHERE trying to get them prosecuted.
As for the rest, there's too much vagueness in your post (and you obviously can't explain what the inspector was thinking). You're best bet as far as the damages would be to consult a lawyer (unless a complaint to the appropriate county office doesn't yield any results).

The op had stated that if the producer of waste was contracted with some certified/licensed entity the rights afforded the county/state are limited. Op states he is contracted with such an entity. If the ops statements are true then the county employee had no right to act as he did.

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Quoting jk

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The op had stated that if the producer of waste was contracted with some certified/licensed entity the rights afforded the county/state are limited. Op states he is contracted with such an entity. If the ops statements are true then the county employee had no right to act as he did.

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We don't know that. We know the OP's version of events, not the county/city employee and their rights and responsibilities.

The OP can talk to the prosecutor as he has indicated, but I doubt that will result in any charges unless the employee was clearly outside the scope of their authority. He can also seek to sue in Small Claims court, or, take the matter to a higher court if the amount of damages are higher than what SC allows. Whether or not he will prevail will depend on facts we do not have (as in, why the employee made entry and under what legal authority - if any).

Not in the counties here I am familiar with. It doesn't matter who provides your waste/septic the DEH has the rights to require permits and to inspect.
It doesn't matter if the oil is pumped into a cistern and trucked away by a private hauler.
Still there's more to this story than we're getting from the OP.

Just got back from a meeting with the waster company and the prosecutor. The down side is that they were at the same meeting and holding each others hands.

The prosecutor has given the water company 24 hours to show that they had a legal right to enter and the employee was properly certified.

The prosecutor also gave me 24 hours to show that what he did was potentially dangerous. I do have my paper work together for this.

I made a deadly sin and called OSHA when I left the prosecutors office. I have meet with them and they have started an investigation. I have been told that they will be out first thing in the morning to inspect everything and as long as the fence is properly posted it would be a confined space and there would have to be 2 people present to enter. I'm told they will give me an inspection report by noon for the prosecutor.

Flyingron
I understand that you have a limited knowledge when it comes to waistwater systems. If you ask a question I have a good chance at being able to answer it. I do have my Industrial Waste Treatment Certification. I'm not able to know what someone was thinking when they would not tell me and is now hiding behind there management.

You are right that the DEH has the right to inspect, but they also have to follow there own guidelines and to do it in a safe manor. The worker in question dose not work for the DEF, did not follow the right guidelines, and did not do it in a safe manor.

Your insult is uncalled for. I can not help you further. I answered within the scope of the limited information you presented.

I'm not even sure why you are here other than to rant at us.

I did come for help and most of what has been posted has been helpful. There have been some questions asked and also some comments on lack of information on my part from not knowing what is needed. If a question is not asked I don't know what to post. I am unable to read someones mind when it comes to what someone thinks that will not communicate.

I learned years ago that good communication takes 3 steps. Send, receive, and repeat. It's very hard to find people that can effectively communicate in person and gets even hard when it comes to text or a chat forum where part of the responses do not read or try to understand everything said before there response.

The last thing I wanted to do was to piss someone off. Asking someone to ask me a question instead of assuming information to me is not an insult.

I feel that I now have a decent idea on how to proceed.
I would also like to thank everyone for the time they spent with me.