Pflueger plea sparks anger
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau
LIHU'E, Kaua'i — State and federal officials are not happy that retired auto dealer Jimmy Pflueger was allowed to plead no contest yesterday to 14 felony water pollution charges, saying he hasn't fully accepted responsibility for causing muddy runoff that damaged the reef off Pila'a Beach on Kaua'i's north shore.
Pflueger, 78, could face maximum fines totalling $700,000 and up to 140 years in jail when he is sentenced Sept. 9 by 5th Circuit Judge Clifford Nakea.
State Deputy Attorney General Colleen Chun protested the no-contest pleas.
"We feel that a guilty plea instead of a no-contest plea makes a person take responsibility for his actions," she told the judge.
In San Francisco, the Environmental Protection Agency's regional special agent in charge, Scott West, had a similar concern. The EPA had stepped aside to let the state lead the criminal prosecution of Pflueger, but is rethinking that position.
"There is not the level of acceptance of responsibility in a no-contest plea that there is in a guilty plea. I think that what the judge did (in allowing the plea) is unfortunate," West said. "I can't sit here and say that federal charges will be brought, but we will consider our options in pursuing them."
Pflueger made no statement in court.
Chun said the charges allege Pflueger was responsible for extensive grading on a plateau overlooking Pila'a Beach, and that mud from the work flowed down into the ocean repeatedly from October 2001 to August 2002. The runoff, which discolored the ocean, ran across the beach, often around silt fences and sometimes through a culvert Pflueger had installed at the request of neighbors.
Marine biologists who studied the reef said siltation from the runoff killed coral and damaged the ecosystem.
"The largest crime that has been committed is the amount of coral that died," said Amy Marvin, whose property was in the path of the mud flow. "It's an environmental disaster. It's a personal disaster for him (Pflueger), and our lives have been turned upside-down."
Marvin, who attended the plea hearing, said the mud flowed under and around her home and seeped into the house despite sand bags and towels at the doors.
After the hearing, Pflueger and two employees denied that the mud entered the Marvin home.
"I went down there a couple of days afterward to clean the house, but I didn't have to. There wasn't any mud inside," said Mahea Kaui.
Pflueger aide Marshall Rosa agreed: "There was mud down there, but not in the house."
The Marvins are suing Pflueger, saying the mud ruined the house and made their property impossible to live in for an extended period. The resulting turmoil hurt the family business and caused upheaval in their lives, Amy Marvin said.
Pflueger's decision to plead no contest likely was a tactical move, since a guilty plea could be used as an admission of responsibility in the Marvins' civil case.
Besides the state water pollution case and the Marvin family's lawsuit, Pflueger is facing a series of other legal actions. His attorney, Benjamin Cassiday III, told the court yesterday that Pflueger is "98 percent of the way" toward settlement of civil actions brought by the state and federal governments.
Earthjustice attorney David Henkin, who represents two community groups that sued Pflueger, said "we continue to be in good-faith negotiations" on that case.
Last year, Pflueger was sentenced to $3,000 in fines and 450 hours of community service after pleading guilty to petty misdemeanor counts of grading without a county permit. His attorney said he agreed to the guilty plea to have charges dropped against other defendants that included some of his employees and his companies.
Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.
