The former superintendent of the J.B. Gifford Wastewater Treatment Plant in
Michigan City has been sentenced to two years of probation after pleading
guilty to the felony offenses of making false statements and tampering with
a monitoring method under the Clean Water Act, the U.S. Attorney’s Office
for the Northern District of Indiana said.
Daniel Olson, 62, of Merrilville, must serve one of those two years on home
detention and must also make restitution of $15,000, the U.S. Attorney’s
Office said.
Olson admitted the following:
•Failing to make a required report of a sewage bypass into Trail Creek, a
Lake Michigan tributary.
•Making false material representations by selectively reporting only those
sample results showing compliance with Michigan City’s permit, and failing
knowingly to report those samples which showed non-compliance.
•Tampering with a monitoring method, by delaying the daily sampling for
wastewater until the point in the treatment process when the treatment
chemical (chlorine) was elevated and E. coli concentrations were low.
The case was investigated by the Criminal Division of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, part of the Northern District of Indiana Environmental
Crimes Task Force.
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