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2 plead not guilty in Campbell water theft
By EMMALEE C. TORISK
CAMPBELL
The attorney representing two men accused of stealing water from a Wilson Avenue fire hydrant this weekend called the entire situation a “silly misunderstanding” — and said he has the city-issued, handwritten work orders from previous jobs to prove it.
“These guys have been caught in a paperwork snafu, and they shouldn’t be punished for this,” said Scott C. Essad, attorney for Odyssey Environmental Services LLC, which employs the two men.
Both Phillip G. Stratus, 26, of Oxford Avenue in Niles, and Leonard W. Villers, 58, of Stanford Avenue in Youngstown, pleaded not guilty to charges of theft and tampering with the city’s water system in Campbell Municipal Court on Tuesday morning.
Stratus and Villers, who were each held on a $2,500 bond in the Campbell jail pending their mandatory court appearance, will next appear in court for a Sept. 26 pretrial. No additional bond was set by Judge Patrick P. Cunning.
The two men were arrested at 2:30 p.m. Saturday after city police spotted the men filling up a tanker truck from the fire hydrant. They told police they were cleaning catch basins for the city and had permission to take as much water as they needed, but could not provide a work order. No water meter was attached to the hydrant to measure the amount of water being transferred.
Though Essad acknowledged that the charges Stratus and Villers face are serious ones, he said he’s “confident this whole thing will take care of itself.” He also requested a speedy return of the company’s truck, which he said is only one of three and that its absence prevents employees from being able to do their jobs.
Essad added that Odyssey has been working with the city of Campbell since 2008, and cited a history of handwritten work orders on sticky notes. The notes, he said, were written by Judith Clement, city administrator, and then given to the company.
“The paper trail is not the best, but that’s not Odyssey’s fault,” he said.
He mentioned, too, that the Wilson Avenue fire hydrant was the “same hydrant they always pull water from.”
When asked whether city officials, including herself, would have authorized Odyssey employees to take water from the fire hydrant in question, Clement responded succinctly: “Absolutely not.”
She also pointed to the city’s need to account for its water, and said that if she were to authorize such water use, it would have to be in a highly regulated manner. The company’s employees would be sent to the city’s water treatment plant or have to pay a fee to borrow a water meter, for example.
“If I did authorize it, would it be in a desolate part of town where no one could see them?” she asked.
The city recently did “piecemeal” out work to Odyssey in emergency situations, even though the company’s contract with the city had expired in November, Clement said, but there was no job that would’ve involved employees taking water from the Wilson Avenue fire hydrant.
All emergency work would have had the approval of at least three members of city council.