Judge supports sentencing of Shipman
A Greene County judge has responded to an appeal filed by the state attorney general’s office by issuing an opinion supporting his sentence for a businessman charged with illegal dumping.
In June, Judge Farley Toothman sentenced Robert Allan Shipman, 50, of New Freeport to a term of probation for illegally dumping thousands of gallons of waste water across the region and defrauding 17 companies and local municipalities.
Prosecutors charged Shipman with dumping waste, including production water from natural gas drilling operations, sludge from sewage treatment plants and grease water from restaurants, by mixing it with other waste that could be easily dumped. The method, which was called “cocktailing,” meant that the waste he was being paid by area businesses to process and dump was being passed off as waste that needed no special treatment and was dumped in different areas in Fayette, Greene, Washington, Allegheny, Lawrence and Westmoreland counties.
Agents filed more than 200 charges against Shipman and his business, Allan’s Waste Water Service Inc. of Holbrook. Under the terms of the plea agreement, most of the charges were dropped.
When he sentenced Shipman on June 15, Toothman noted the personal tragedies in Shipman’s life, notably, the suicide of his teenage stepdaughter, and sentenced Shipman to seven years’ probation, easing the penalty agreed to when Shipman pleaded guilty to theft and illegal dumping in February. The initial plea deal had called for Shipman to spend up to 16 months in prison.
Toothman said in June that imprisoning Shipman would do little to further punish him because he has suffered greatly since he was charged. At the time of sentencing, Shipman paid $257,316 in restitution to the victims in the case. He also paid a $100,000 fine, was ordered to environment-related community service and is prohibited from owning a similar type of business in the future.
In August, the attorney general’s office asked the state Superior Court to review the probationary sentence handed down by Toothman.
The appeal was filed after Toothman refused to reconsider the sentence after Deputy Attorney General Amy Carnicella filed paperwork before the jurist asking that he rescind the probation and impose jail time on Shipman.
Carnicella argued that the case, which drew national attention, was an opportunity for Toothman to set a precedent regarding pollution at the start of the gas well boom across the region.
In his opinion in support of his sentencing, Toothman said that he was within the parameters of discretion set by law and precedent, and that the appeal filed by the state with the Superior Court failed to raise a valid reason for review.
“It appears that the commonwealth wants Shipman imprisoned, believing that jailing him will deter others from polluting our waterways. History proves this motive wrong and improper,” Toothman wrote.
He also said that while there have been egregious lapses of oversight in caring for the waterways in Greene County over decades, it would be unfair for the court to impose a sentence on Shipman for the errors of others.
“We found Shipman’s failure to police himself to be not unique among DEP-permitted wastewater haulers,” Toothman wrote, noting that Shipman serving time in prison would not help protect the county’s waterways. He also added that Shipman’s sentence of community service could better serve the Greene County environment.