Camp Pendleton

A truck driver who dumped about 200 gallons of sulfuric acid in the Santa Margarita estuary on Camp Pendleton last year was sentenced in federal court Monday to five years’ probation and a $2,500 fine, the U. S. attorney’s office said.

The two companies for which the driver was working also agreed to pay $25,000 toward wetlands restoration at the estuary, said Assistant U. S. Atty. Charles S. Crandall, who is legal adviser to the San Diego Hazardous Waste Task Force.

Crandall said that U. S. Judge William B. Enright gave the suspended sentence and fine to truck driver Louis Henry Hall, 42, of Laton, Calif. Hall also was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.

Hall was sentenced for dumping the acid in March, 1987, into a culvert at the end of a tomato field on Camp Pendleton. The culvert led into the estuary, which is the breeding ground for the least tern and the light-footed clapper rail, both endangered species of birds, said Crandall.

Hall was working for Verdegall Brothers, a fertilizer distributor in Northern California, and was delivering the acid to Agricultural Installations, which leases Camp Pendleton property for agriculture.

Verdegall Brothers and Agricultural Installations agreed to pay $12,500 each in lieu of prosecution, Crandall said.