River Dumping Leads To Probation For Area Business Owner

LOS ALAMITOS, CA — The owner of a waste-hauling company was sentenced to five years probation Monday for dumping 11,000 gallons of waste water and soap into a tributary of the San Gabriel River in Santa Fe Springs.

David Lee Flury, the 62-year-old owner and operator of Flury Industries Inc., a Santa Fe Springs-based waste-hauling company, pleaded guilty a year ago to a felony charge of water pollution.

Prosecutors asked for him to serve 18 months in prison, but U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson opted for the probationary term.

The San Gabriel River, one of the three most important waterways in Southern California, flows into the Pacific Ocean at Alamitos Bay between the cities of Long Beach and Seal Beach.

Flury admitted that the city of Santa Fe Springs spent nearly $750,000 cleaning up the soapy waste that he illegally dumped into Los Coyotes Creek.

Flury had previously been indicted in Los Angeles federal court on multiple felony counts, including water pollution, mail and wire fraud, witness tampering, destruction of evidence and identity theft. The grand jury indictment alleged that Flury used interstate wire communications and the mail system to defraud about 17 customers out of more than $350,000.

The indictment alleged that Flury told his customers that he would pick up their various waste products and transport the waste for disposal at a facility licensed to receive and dispose of such waste products. Instead, Flury illegally dumped tens of thousands of gallons of waste products into the San Gabriel River and desert areas in Riverside County, he admitted.

City News Service contributed to this report

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