Trump Pardons Outhouse Kingpin Convicted of Illegally Dumping Raw Sewage

Alex Brandon/AP photo

On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed a “full and unconditional pardon” for Diamond Environmental Services owner Arie Eric De Jong III, who was sentenced in 2018 to five months in prison for illegally dumping raw sewage into municipal sewer systems.

According to prosecutors, the portable toilet company unlawfully dumped waste from its trucks into public sewer systems across several Southern California cities, including San Diego, San Marcos, Fullerton, Perris, and Huntington Park, rather than disposing of it at approved facilities and paying the required fees, allowing De Jong III to dodge millions in expenses.

Per a copy of the pardon posted by The New York Times’ Kenneth Vogel, Trump cleared De Jong III of all felony charges against the United States, to all of which he had pleaded guilty under a 2017 agreement.

While De Jong III was only sentenced to five months behind bars in 2018, Assistant U.S. Attorney Melanie Pierson advocated for a 12-month sentence, telling the judge that “he’s a thief, pure and simple.”

According to De Jong III at the time, his actions were “a huge mistake.” He told U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez that he “never thought [the scheme] would get to this level.”

In addition to De Jong III himself, Diamond Environmental Services was placed on probation. Benitez ordered $2.64 million in fines, along with $2.25 million in restitution to five sanitation agencies. The company also agreed to forfeit $2.2 million in profits deemed to have been illegally obtained.

The pardon adds to Trump’s growing list of clemency actions, with many awarded to political or personal allies.

In early December, he pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras, who was sentenced to 45 years in prison for drug trafficking.

Also this week, the president pardoned convicted fraudster Adriana Camberos and her brother, after previously commuting a separate sentence of hers in 2021.