Pflueger to plead no contest to pollution
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau
LIHU'E, Kaua'i — Major landowner and retired car dealer Jimmy Pflueger will not contest 14 felony counts of violating state water pollution regulations, his attorney told 5th Circuit Court Judge Clifford Nakea yesterday.
Pflueger, 75, was cited for a series of grading and water pollution violations on his family's roughly 2,500 acres between Kilauea and Moloa'a, all involving large-scale earth moving. In the most serious case, a Nov. 26, 2001, rainstorm caused a mudslide of graded dirt that flowed through a coastal home and swept out onto the Pila'a reef.
Pflueger's attorney, Benjamin Cassiday III, told Nakea yesterday that Pflueger was prepared to plead no contest to all the charges, which carry a maximum penalty of three years in jail and a fine of up to $50,000. Pflueger also was represented at the hearing by attorney Wesley Ching of Honolulu.
The state opposed the no-contest plea, which would allow Pflueger to avoid admitting guilt and make civil litigation against him more difficult, but Nakea said he would accept it. The formal plea is expected in court Monday.
"Mr. Pflueger accepts responsibility for his actions. He wants to do the right thing and put this behind him," Noel Wise, one of his attorneys, said after the hearing.
In the Pila'a case, Pflueger has been named in a lawsuit by two community groups for damaging nearshore resources and by the homeowners whose house was half buried in mud.
In a separate case, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2002 cited Pflueger for Clean Water Act violations from 1998 to 2002 involving grading near the Kaloko Reservoir, which lies mauka of Kuhio Highway. Pflueger had previously been cited by the county in 1997 for grading violations in the same area.
He pleaded no contest last year to county violations for grading without a permit at both Pila'a and Kaloko, and was sentenced to perform 450 hours of community service work and pay $3,000 in fines.
Pflueger and his contractors are working with the EPA and state and county agencies on restoration plans for both sites.
Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.
