Posted on: Saturday, July 2, 2005

State fines ex-auto dealer $4M

By Janis L. Magin
Associated Press Writer

The state has fined retired O'ahu auto dealer Jimmy Pflueger more than $4 million to pay for damage to a Kaua'i beach and reef caused by runoff from his property.

The state Board of Land and Natural Resources levied one of its largest fines ever seven weeks after a judge fined Pflueger $500,000 after he pleaded guilty in a criminal environmental case related to the runoff that occurred in 2001.

The board Thursday said the damage done to the reef and beach at Pila'a Beach caused by the runoff from Pflueger's property amounted to $3.96 million. He also was ordered to pay $69,996 in administrative costs.

A massive mudslide washed across a neighboring property and into the ocean because of deep cuts Pflueger had made on his Pila'a property in building a road. He acknowledged that he did not have a grading permit.

Pflueger's attorney in the criminal case, Benjamin B. Cassiday III, said Pflueger accepted responsibility in the criminal case, but the big fine was an attempt to "scam him for his money."

"There was no damage to the reef. They're just trying to rip him off," said Cassiday, who is related to Pflueger. "Any damage that was done to that reef was done years ago when they had a plantation there and they were using fertilizer on the sugar cane."

Sam Lemmo, administrator for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources' Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands, said he assembled a team of experts who found considerable damage to the reef, and said there is still mud on the beach.

"If the sedimentation is controlled, then that will give the reef the opportunity to recover," he said. "Some of the coral heads damaged were 100 years old, so it will take a couple of generations."

Lemmo, who said the $4 million fine was the largest he's seen, said Pflueger could possibly appeal the judgment to the Circuit Court.

His attorney in the matter before the state board, Wesley Ching, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

On May 12, Pflueger pleaded guilty to 10 felony water pollution counts in connection with the case and was fined $500,000 — a record for a criminal environmental case.

Pflueger had faced a maximum 40 years in prison in that case, but Circuit Judge George Masuoka sentenced him instead to three years probation.

Cassiday said Pflueger would pay that fine and did not plan to appeal the criminal case.

"We were very clear on that," Cassiday said. "Jimmy Pflueger has always accepted responsibility for everything that happened."