Shop owner faces civil lawsuit from man who was burned by chemical
MAIN STREET — A local furniture stripper accused of nearly killing a sewer worker by letting an untreated toxic chemical run down his drain may have acted unintentionally, according to a plea agreement signed Monday.
Michael Miller, 41, owner of Stripper Herk on Main Street, pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge of negligently discharging a toxic chemical into the sewer, along with a felony charge of storing barrels of hazardous waste without a permit. He will be sentenced in October.
Prosecutors targeted Miller after Vicente Valenzuela, a city-contracted sewer worker, crawled 20 feet beneath Stripper Herk and came into contact with the chemicals. He went into full cardiac arrest. The worker was revived and taken to a special burn center, where he was treated for third-degree burns covering more than half of his body.
Though Miller initially was charged with a felony for deliberately dumping wastewater containing methylene chloride and oxalic acid, he apparently was able to convince prosecutors the leak was a mistake.
“We were able to show the government, to their satisfaction, that to the extent that there was any discharge, that was not intentional — Mike would never do that,” said Alan Rubin, Miller’s criminal defense attorney. “They recognized that this wasn’t a polluter who was intentionally dumping into the system.
“This was unfortunate, but an accident,” added Rubin, saying Miller is not what officials would call a “midnight dumper.” “What’s sort of sad about the whole thing is that if anyone helps the environment, it’s Mike. He’s the only licensed stripper in Santa Monica. If he’s not available to do these things, then people will be doing them by themselves, and they really will be going into the sewer.”
In an interview with the Daily Press after his arrest, Miller called the leak accidental, adding a makeshift plug connected to the drain deteriorated without his knowledge. He questioned the injuries sustained by the worker, saying he and the workers in his five-man shop regularly work with the diluted wastewater and never have suffered any injuries.
In addition to the illegal dumping charge, Miller, a Santa Monica High School graduate who has run the shop since the 1980s, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of storing approximately 20 55-gallon barrels of hazardous waste behind his shop. By law, hazardous waste must be hauled away within 90 days. Prosecutors said some of Miller’s barrels were six months old. Miller said he was waiting to have the barrels taken away because it costs about $500 a barrel and he was struggling to make ends meet at his business.
Assistant United States Attorney Dorothy Kim declined to discuss the case. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Miller faces up to six years in jail and $350,000 in fines. It’s unknown what prosecutors will push for.
Rubin said he’s confident Miller won’t serve the maximum sentence, adding he will argue for no jail time, just probation.
While civil lawsuits have been filed against Miller by Valenzuela and the insurance company that paid his worker’s compensation claim, Rubin added there were several questions outstanding about the sewer worker’s injury. Among the most important, he said, is why the worker wasn’t wearing protective gear.
“I think there’s a lot more to the story than people realize. We think there’s a substantial amount of contributory negligence in his injury,” Rubin said. “Basically, this is not a simple matter of the stuff got into the sewer and it hurt this guy.
“It’s way more complicated than that.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 20, 2004. Read the original PDF.