Illegal Dumping – Health & Safety Code Section 374.3
It's illegal to dump anything on any public land or any private land that is not your land. Illegal dumping is a crime that is prosecuted if the authorities can prove that you or someone you know dumped something on public land or even the land of another person.
Usually, this is proved by eyewitness accounts and circumstantial evidence depending on what happened and the totality of the circumstances related to the alleged illegal dumping.
When you violate Health & Safety Code Section 374.3, you are usually cited in court. A prosecutor will be put in charge of your illegal dumping case, and if the case is not handled properly, you could be facing substantial punishment, including fines and other punishments available to the court.
So, suppose you have an illegal dumping case in Los Angeles County, and you're being prosecuted under Health & Safety Code Section 374.3. In that case, you will want to get an attorney to talk to the prosecutors.
Review Your Case With a Lawyer
If you have a good explanation for what happened and why you're being charged with illegal dumping, obviously, you want your attorney to convey that explanation to the prosecutors and judge and try to get you some sort of infraction so you can avoid a misdemeanor or felony conviction.
The prosecutors will be harsh on these illegal dumping cases when big-dollar items are being illegally dumped. In other words, a lot of stuff that would typically cost thousands of dollars to dispose of is being placed on public lands.
That's when the police will get involved, and the case will be sent to the prosecutors. They'll start putting restrictions on you, especially if you own a business and you're illegally dumping.
You get into a whole other issue when you're illegally dumping any substance that is not good for the earth – like radioactive material – gas companies that are illegally dumping certain things. So, it depends on what is being dumped and how much money you're avoiding paying by being able to dump whatever you are illegally.
Also, the clean-up of whatever is being illegally dumped is an essential issue because if the authorities have to take it away, dispose of it, and clean it up in any way, you'll be held responsible for the cost of that illegal dumping.
What I have you do in these illegal dumping cases is you come into the office, and we go over everything. It's in the privacy of my office so that we can talk freely under the umbrella of the attorney-client privilege.
It would help me best if you could just give me an honest account of what happened without putting any spin on it. Then, once I know what happened, what I know the authorities will claim that you did, we can assemble a defense strategy that makes sense for you and the surrounding circumstances of your case.
A crucial thing that I'm trying to do is protect your criminal record so that you don't have a horrible criminal record moving forward that will haunt you when you try to get a job and do other things.
So, if you've got an illegal dumping case, give me a call, and we'll sit down and talk about it. We'll figure out the best strategy that makes sense for you and your circumstances, and we'll obviously do everything we possibly can to avoid having a conviction that you cannot get off your record or dismiss in the future.
