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Their names and faces most likely won’t show up on television shows, like John Walsh’s “America’s Most Wanted” program. They’re not going to be hanging on Post Office walls, like those on the FBI’s most-wanted list. Nevertheless, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is doing its best to get the word out. To this end, it has set up a website to publicize its list of the country's most-wanted environmental fugitives.

Among the 23 men on the EPA list is Mahmoud Almhchie, a 49-year-old Syrian charged in California with smuggling more than a hundred 30-pound cylinders of “ozone depleting contraband.” He fled the US to avoid prosecution and is believed to be back in Syria.

Another, 53-year-old Larkin Baggett, was the owner of a chemical treatment and disposal company in Utah. He allegedly dumped acidic chemical waste into a municipal sewer system, then went into hiding before trial and is believed to be somewhere still in Utah. He gained a cautionary note on his electronic wanted poster: “Due to the large amount of weapons in his possession at the time of his arrest, he may be armed and dangerous.”

And a third, Belgian Denis L. Feron, at age 80, was the owner of a chemical company in Illinois that allegedly operated a secret pipe behind its facility to discharge pollutants into a tributary of the Mississippi River. He fled prior to trial and is said to be in hiding back in his home country.

None of these crimes may rate high on a criminality or brutality scale compared to the murderers, rapists and child molesters on Walsh’s weekly program or the FBI posters. They may not even measure up to a multitude of corporate misdeeds perpetrated daily. However, the dozens of crimes attributed to them each dealt significant harm to the environment or had the potential to do so.

The website, includes mug shots for most of the 23, as well as some life history for each, including the details of their crimes and last-known whereabouts. There’s even a click-through wanted poster for each man, suitable for printing and posting. And, although nearly all of them are now believed outside the US, the website provides contact information for the EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division in case they are spotted by an alert citizen. (It’s usually the office in the city where charges were first filed.) The missing element on the EPA list is a reward for reporting any of the fugitives. However, would-be informants are advised: “Do not attempt to apprehend any of these individuals.”

The site lists a pair of success stories from 2008, the details of which could play on a range of television reality shows. According to the EPA, David Enrique Ortiz, of Grand Junction, Colorado, was originally sentenced in 2003 for violating the US Clean Water Act by illegally discharging aircraft de-icing chemicals into the Colorado River. After being sentenced to 12 months in prison and a $2,000 fine, he was released under supervision while awaiting an appeal. He failed to comply with terms of his release and an arrest warrant was issued.

But it was not until 2008, when Ortiz was arrested in Adams County, Colorado--for driving with a suspended license and driving under the influence--that the EPA caught up with him. Ortiz first spent several months in the Adams County jail as a result of his suspended license and DUI convictions. Then in March of 2008, the Adams County jail contacted the US Marshall’s office, which had previously placed a federal hold on David E. Ortiz for failure to report to the US Probation Office.

Now, more than five years after his original conviction, he has been assessed a $2,000 fine plus a $125 special-assessment fee and put behind bars. He is serving sentences of 12 months and 24 months concurrently. After he is let out of jail, he faces a year of supervised release.

In 2001-02, David Phillips went on trial in Montana for numerous offenses, including multiple violations of the Clean Water Act, which arose from a recreational homesite development that impacted a wetland area and Fred Burr Creek. He was sentenced to three months of home confinement, three months in a pre-release center and five years of probation. He subsequently violated his parole and was sentenced to additional prison time. He escaped from jail and remained free until early 2008, when he was deported from Mexico back to the US, where he remains in federal custody.

Hopefully, the website will soon be populated by many additional such tales of successful apprehension by the EPA’s enforcement arm. And it wouldn’t come as a big surprise if some enterprising television producer eventually sees the potential for creating a reality-type show based on the EPA list. Then we’ll hear more stories of environmental criminals being brought to justice, direct from the files of the EPA Criminal Enforcement Division.

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