COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Clinton County man was sentenced to two years in prison for crimes related to burning hazardous materials.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost called the man an “environmental terrorist.”
Jason Wallace, 46, was sentenced on August 9 after being found guilty in July of two counts of illegal open burning of solid waste, and two counts of causing air pollution.
“Some people just won’t learn that if you play with fire, you are bound to get burned,” Yost said. “I appreciate the help of our environmental partners at the Ohio EPA, Wilmington Fire Department, and Clinton County Sheriff’s Office in halting this illegal activity.”
The charges stem from two separate offenses—one in 2020 and the other in 2021.
According to state investigators, the Wilmington Fire Department received a call on September 30, 2020, about the smoke that smelled “toxic.” When firefighters arrived in the small community of Cuba, they found Wallace, who claimed that he was burning wood to clean up the property.
Wilmington Lt. Brant Schmitt reported seeing wood paneling, drywall, processed wood, plywood, cardboard, plastic, a nylon bag, and a hairbrush in the fire – and a charred wheel rim nearby.
During the trial, Lt. Schmitt testified that Wallace had previously been warned not to open-burn solid waste.
In the second incident, the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office, in February of 2021, responded to a report from an Ohio EPA investigator about a fire on another property. Deputies found Wallace burning bags of trash on a utility trailer, including plastic containers, soda cans, and bottles.
In sentencing Wallace to prison, the judge cited Wallace’s “lengthy and significant criminal history.”
The judge wrote: “The court finds [the] defendant to be an environmental terrorist completely oblivious to the harm his misconduct causes to the community and his neighbors.”