Warrant Issued for Chicago Plastic Recycler Indicted in Fox River Fish Kill
A bench warrant was issued Friday for one of the suspects in an illegal dumping at a South Elgin, Illinois recycling company, sources said. An Hong, 32, of Elburn failed to appear at a status hearing Friday before Judge James C. Hallock. The judge issued a warrant for his arrest for failure to appear in court and set bail at $500,000, sources said.
Hong and Yu Tan “John” Zheng, 34, of Elburn, the owner of the company, D&Y Trading, were indicted last month with a Class 4 felony count of water pollution and a misdemeanor count of water pollution. Zheng did appear in court. According to the indictment, Hong and Zheng dumped an industrial detergent into a sewer drain that flowed into a stream near Mavis Avenue. The detergent created bubbles to fill the stream, which feeds into the Fox River, and caused a fish kill, authorities said.
South Elgin Countryside Fire Protection District firefighters were able to contain the spill to the stream. Police were able to trace the material back to Zheng’s company located off Sundown Road and reportedly witnessed the dumping. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources led an investigation into the dumping with help from South Elgin police, the attorney general’s office, U.S. and Illinois Environmental Protection agencies, South Elgin firefighters and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Filed Under: Crimes • Environmental • News
