An owner of a metal plating company that dumped deadly waste into a Toronto creek has been given what is being called the longest jail term for an environmental offense in Ontario's history.
Emedio Perilli, one of the owners of Majestic Plating Corp., of Toronto, was sentenced Tuesday to a nine-month jail term and fined $6,000 for the incident.
The company pleaded guilty to four charges involving the dumping of effluent containing cyanide and metal compounds into Etobicoke Creek in May 1997.
It was fined $240,000, the Ministry of the Environment said.
The Ministry launched an investigation after receiving reports of dead fish and discolored water in Etobicoke Creek.
The spill killed thousands of fish, and harmed the creek's water quality.
The creek was closed of by the local health department.
The longest previous jail term for an environmental offence was eight months, according to a ministry official.