Jan 11, 2007 By Steve Ferris 2 min read

Environmental crime investigators from the state attorney general’s office executed a search warrant at Franks Sanitation in North Union Township after aerial surveillance photos taken in the fall showed burning and large amounts of garbage on the property. The attorney general’s environmental crimes section began its investigation in August 2006 into whether Franks illegally operated a landfill without the needed state permits to burn, store, process, transport or dispose of solid waste based on a referral from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

David Franks, who ran Franks Sanitation on a 10-acre site on Starlite Road, does not have a listed phone number and could not be reached for comment on the investigation.

After four aerial flyovers were conducted between Oct. 4 and Nov. 6, William F. Brown, a special agent with the attorney general’s bureau of criminal investigations, environmental crimes section, obtained a search warrant for the property on Nov. 7 from Common Pleas Court in Fayette County.

The warrant was executed, but Nils Frederiksen, a deputy press secretary in the Attorney General’s office, said he could not reveal what, if anything was seized because the matter is under investigation.

He said investigators have not yet determined whether charges will be filed in the case.

“No charges have been filed. The case remains under investigation,” Frederiksen.

In September, Brown interviewed residents who live near the site and North Union Township supervisors and was told garbage trucks enter and exit the site and burning occurred on Wednesdays and Saturdays, according to the affidavit of probable cause he used to obtain the search warrant.

Brown also saw smoke coming from a burn pile that was surrounded by a “massive amount of household and commercial waste,” according to the affidavit.

Flyovers conducted on Oct. 4, 18 and 25 and Nov. 6 found large amounts of solid waste, such as garbage bags and tires on the property. Open fires smoldering areas were photographed on the first three flights, according to the affidavit.

Brown said he learned from the DEP that neither Franks nor anyone else had a solid waste permits for that property.

The search warrant and affidavit were sealed for 60 days when the warrant was issued and was unsealed last week.