2 Investigators: Taxpayers May Be On The Hook For Farmer's Mess
(CBS) -- An outlaw dump site along the DuPage River ran all day and night for years, until it was exposed by the 2 Investigators.
Now, there's a hitch. The illegal dump's owner died while awaiting criminal and civil trials, and now residents are concerned taxpayers will be left footing the bill for the massive cleanup.
Herman Fritz, the dump's owner, died in a car crash in July while facing charges that would have forced him to pay for the cleanup. The garbage is still there.
"What did (Fritz) not do to the DuPage River? I mean, (he) polluted it completely," says Patrick Leib, a neighbor of the late farmer.
The dump site includes decades of asphalt, concrete, roofing materials, barrels, tires and septic waste. Fritz, when confronted by CBS 2 in 2014, admitted he allowed companies to dump on his farm for money.
Leib says he made calls to the village frequently, to no effect. Now, he wonders who will have to pay for the remediation.
"Who else is going to pay for it? It's always on the taxpayers," Leib says.
Another neighbor, Chris Jenkins, also says Plainfield authorities and the Will County State's Attorney's Office ignored the evidence for years.
"The immediate injunction went into place the same day that your story hit the hit the air," Jenkins tells Savini.
Jenkins and Leib both say they were harassed and threatened by Fritz and his associates for reporting the dumping.
"The most intimidating thing would have been when they said I'm a dead man," Jenkins says.
His surveillance system captured nighttime images of men running from his front porch with paintball guns after shooting up the house.
Leib says he had paint and nails thrown all over his driveway.
Plainfield police say they investigated his issues and Fritz was issued warnings for trespass but there were no witnesses in some cases.
They also say they turned Jenkins' harassment complaints over to the Will County sheriff and all the illegal dumping complaints to the Will County State's Attorney's Office.
The state's attorney's office admits there were communication gaps in handling complaints and referrals from other state agencies about the dump. But officials say they are moving ahead aggressively and will try to go after the Fritz estate for the cleanup.
