"Ex-Freedom Official Southern Sentenced To 30 Days, $20K Fine"

"Gary Southern, the last of six former Freedom Industries officials to face sentencing, will spend 30 days in jail and pay a $20,000 fine for his role in pollution crimes that caused the January 2014 Elk River chemical spill that contaminated the drinking water supply for hundreds of thousands of people in the Kanawha Valley and surrounding area.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Johnston also sentenced Southern, Freedom’s president at the time of the spill, to six months of supervised release by the U.S. Probation Office.

Noting that the three charges Southern admitted to in a plea deal with prosecutors were misdemeanors, Johnston said he might not have given Southern any jail time at all, if he had not been convinced that Southern had lied in U.S. Bankruptcy Court about his role at Freedom’s chemical storage operation, where the spill occurred. ...

Four other former Freedom officials — co-owners Charles Herzing and William Tis, plant manager Michael Burdette and environmental manager Robert Reynolds — had previously received probation-only sentences from Johnston. Each admitted to one misdemeanor charge. Former Freedom co-owner and longtime company president Dennis Farrell was sentenced to 30 days in jail after he pleaded guilty to two pollution counts. In all, the six former Freedom officials were fined a total of $92,500. Freedom, the company, was fined the maximum of $900,000 for three criminal charges, including one felony for a knowing permit violation, but Johnston noted that the bankrupt company is unlikely to ever pay."

Ken Ward Jr. reports for the Charleston Gazette-Mail February 17, 2016.