Iberville man booked on pollutant charge

DEQ reports vegetation destroyed

PLAQUEMINE — Iberville Parish sheriff’s deputies Thursday arrested a man accused of dumping pollutants into state waterways while on probation for the same charges stemming from his arrest in 2010, according to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.

DEQ investigators found a large area of grease-contaminated soil on Tommy M. Francise’s property and evidence of used cooking oil and grease being dumped into a nearby canal on Aug. 9 after responding to a complaint from parish officials, the release said.

The environmental protection agency said vegetation on the suspect’s property and around the canal was destroyed because of the pollutants that were used in the production of biodiesel at his home, the release said.

Francise, 57, 22330 Talbot Road, was booked into the Iberville Parish Jail on illegal dumping of pollutants and illegal disposal of solid waste on Thursday. He was released the same day on a $20,000 bond, jail officials said.

Francise pleaded guilty to the same charges in March. He was arrested in April 2010, the release said.

At the time, Judge Alvin Batiste placed Francise on three years’ probation, ordered him to pay $5,200 in fines and clean up his property and submit to random inspections by the DEQ, said Tim Beckstrom, a DEQ spokesman.

Francise faces up to three years in prison and up to $50,000 in fines for knowingly discharging pollutants, the DEQ said Thursday.