A West Oakland debris hauling company that was ordered by a court to halt operations has continued to move garbage in and out of its property, the Oakland city attorney said Thursday.

The city obtained a preliminary injunction on April 3 that barred Santos Engineering from hauling debris to or from its warehouse at 2850 Poplar St. The injunction also ordered Santos, which the city says has yet to obtain the proper permits, to stop any unlicensed operations.

But since the injunction was granted, neighbors and city inspectors have seen trucks entering and exiting the facility, one of which was filled with industrial debris, City Attorney Barbara Parker said.

“We are closely monitoring Santos’ operations and will submit evidence to the court to hold defendants in contempt if necessary,” Parker said.

Santos Engineering and its owner, Moacir Santos, were sued by the city in January. The suit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, alleged that the company was contaminating the city’s storm water system and intentionally blowing dust from construction debris into the neighborhood. The company could not be reached for comment.

Since the company moved into its West Oakland location in 2017 from Richmond, it has operated in violation of Oakland’s zoning laws, the suit alleges.

The company began hauling and breaking down construction debris at its Poplar Street location, near homes and a playground, without obtaining the conditional use permit required to conduct industrial activities near a residential area, according to the suit.

“From day one they were operating, they were in violation,” said Alex Katz, Parker’s chief of staff.

The lawsuit cites multiple environmental and health hazards stemming from the way Santos Engineering operates its business. Instead of installing an air filtration system, the defendants allegedly removed skylights to create openings in the roof of the property to allow dust to float out into the neighborhood, the city alleges.

Santos Engineering also allegedly tapped into a municipal fire hydrant on 28th Street for the company’s water usage. The company also allowed runoff from sprinklers, which contained potentially toxic dust, to contaminate the storm water system, the city’s suit says.

In the suit, residents in the area surrounding the warehouse allege that Santos Engineering’s operations have adversely affected their health. Barbara Johnson, 71, who lives across the property, said dust from the company’s demolition activities has collected in her house and car, forcing her to close all her windows.

Johnson said in the suit that she and her grandchildren have complained of coughing and feeling lightheaded and have had difficulty breathing.

“In this case, we sued them because it was a very clear example of a business that was creating a nuisance and danger for the neighborhood,” Katz said.

The city attorney said that in addition to its polluting activities, the company has misrepresented itself to city officials during site inspections and the conditional use permit application process.

A man who introduced himself as Jim Wolf told city officials that he represented Santos Engineering, according to city officials. After the January suit was filed, the city attorney’s office discovered that Wolf was actually James Philip Lucero, officials said.

Lucero was convicted by a federal jury in February on three counts of violating the Federal Clean Water Act. Lucero was found guilty of illegally dumping pollutants near a wildlife refuge in Newark, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California said.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Lucero was known as a dirt-broker, someone who charges a fee to contractors and trucking companies for providing an open space to dump construction debris.

Annie Ma is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ama@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @anniema15