Man arrested, another wanted for allegedly dumping sewage in metro creek
OKLAHOMA COUNTY, Okla. (KFOR) - Two men face felony charges for allegedly dumping raw sewage into a north Edmond creek for years and lying about it.
Reports were allegedly made to officials by the men who lied about how much fecal matter was being dumped into the water.
"The treatment plant was in very much disrepair," said Shellie Chard, Water Quality Division Director at the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
DEQ was first made aware of the incident back in 2019. Somebody called in a complaint at that time about the Bethany-Warr Acres Waste Water Treatment Plant in North Edmond.
"We responded within 24 hours," said Chard. "Through a series of records reviews, there were some discrepancies. We had our inspectors go out and look at the facility and inspect the equipment. In doing that, some of the records were missing, and some of the tests weren't being completed. We had multiple inspectors multiple times and trying to figure out how we can protect public health and the environment."
She said there were many problems, and one of the biggest ones was untreated raw sewage seeping out into fields and nearby Bluff Creek. The sewage water even reached Liberty Lake.
"It's a big lake. There's fishing and lots of activities. So there was an impact there and to Bluff Creek," said Chard.
The two suspects were former plant manager Glen Brentnell and former employee Anthony Menzie.
Charges were filed this week at the Oklahoma County District Attorney's Office in response.
The filing alleges that Brentnell, the plant manager at the time, knew about failures at the plant and did nothing to make repairs. It stated that Menzie was interviewed and admitted to altering laboratory reports to reflect a lower fecal count.
"They were not very responsive and they were not really working with us the way that most communities do," said Chard. "We know that there were times when no records were taken. There were no records."
That means, for quite some time, officials had no clue how dirty and full of fecal matter the water actually was.
Chard said that there is still around $83,000 in fines to be collected from the plant. Penalties reached pretty high over the years.
"We assessed a $400,000 penalty against the system itself," said Chard.
Several agencies assisted in this years-long investigation.
"We worked with partners in Oklahoma City that we are very appreciative of. They were able to help get the raw sewage back in pipes and manholes. The wastewater flowed to Oklahoma City, to one of their treatment plants to actually treat the wastewater," said Chard.
Menzie was arrested and booked Friday on five felony charges, including obtaining money, property or signature under false pretenses, one charge of conspiracy to commit a felony, another of offering forged or false instruments for the record, and two of violating the Oklahoma pollutant discharge elimination system act.
Brentnell was not found on Friday, and as of the afternoon hours, he had a felony warrant out for his arrest.
"It was reported that Brentnell, the plant manager, knew about failures at the Treatment
Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna
Plant and did nothing to make repairs. Those failures resulted in the sewage and untreated
wastewater ending up in the creek. Menzie was interviewed and admitted to altering
laboratory reports to reflect a lower fecal count. Those falsified reports were submitted to
DEQ and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)."
News 4 reached out to the plant itself, and the current manager wasn't available, but the assistant manager said, "We don't allow environmental excursions like that to happen or persist for that matter."