Illegal dumpers caught on video in Norwalk, charged

NORWALK — In mid-July, the Department of Public Works sent crews to clean up a chronic illegal dumping site on Grey Rock Road in South Norwalk. Using a front-end loader and dump trucks, workers cleared the site of landscape refuse, discarded mattresses and other debris that had slowly built up over the summer months.

Less than a week later, Norwalk’s Neighborhood Improvement Coordinator David Shockley drove by the site to find the site covered anew in trash.

That’s when Shockley decided to team up with Keep Norwalk Beautiful to make sure that those illegally dumping there wouldn’t go unpunished.

“Illegal dumping unfortunately occurs in Norwalk and with Keep America Beautiful donated grant funds Keep Norwalk Beautiful installed a video camera system focusing on a chronic dump site in South Norwalk,” Shockley said.

Mere days after being installed, those cameras caught someone dumping a black bag of household garbage right at the base of the “No Dumping” sign post. Multiple others were also caught on camera dropping their refuse there and driving away.

Using the cameras, Norwalk police have already issued three citations to people they said were caught dumping trash there.

“It’s a quality of life issue,” said police spokesman Lt. Terry Blake. “It is clearly illegal. People take the time to clearly maintain that area, and it’s not fair to those neighbors.”

Erika Lucas, 30 of Ingalls Avenue was cited for two incidents of illegal dumping. James Pielert, 27, and Jordan Pielert, 22, both of Second Street, Norwalk, were cited for one count each.

All three were hit with a $219 fine for illegal dumping, and Blake said more citations could be on the way.