Lupo will enter new plea to charge of violating the Clean Water Act
Lupo will enter new plea to charge of violating the Clean Water Act
CLEVELAND
Ben Lupo, who is charged with violating the Clean Water Act in the dumping of oilfield waste into a Mahoning River tributary in Youngstown, is scheduled for a change of plea hearing on Monday.
The court docket entry, posted Tuesday, did not say whether Lupo, 62, of Poland, would plead guilty or no contest.
The hearing, which will be at 10:30 a.m., was originally scheduled as the final pre-trial conference for Lupo and his company, Hardrock Excavating LLC.
Having earlier pleaded not guilty to the charge, Lupo and his company had been scheduled for a jury trial beginning April 8 before U.S. District Judge Donald C. Nugent.
The docket entry did not show what the company’s intentions would be on Monday.
A co-defendant, Michael P. Guesman, 34, of Cortland, who pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act and said he dumped the brine and drilling mud down a storm drain and into the waterway on 24 nights at Lupo’s direction, is scheduled for sentencing at 10 a.m. Thursday.
The investigation of the case followed a Jan. 31, 2013, oilfield waste discharge that resulted in a cleanup costing more than $1 million.