Edgewood Auto Shop Owes $5,000 Fine After Guilty Plea

An Edgewood auto shop owes a $5,000 fine after pleading guilty to making a false statement in a 2011 inspection.

Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler's office announced the fine against John R. Pasquinelli Enterprises, which does business as J.C. Discount Tires. Harford County District Court Judge Mimi R. Cooper suspended half of what would have been a $10,000 fine and also sentenced the firm to a year of probation.

The false statement was made on a compliance report for an underground storage tank. Environmental regulators found a difference between the report submitted by the testers and the one submitted by the company. Testers were told not by the tire firm's personnel not to test the shop's "catch basin" (also known as a spill bucket), and the testers' report was altered by the firm's personnel to show a passing mark, according to the attorney general's release.

“A failing underground gasoline tank poses a unique threat to the drinking water and overall health of the surrounding community,” Gansler said in the release. “Regular inspections of these facilities help prevent the safety risks and great expense that follows when gasoline seeps into the soil and eventually the water table.”

One catch basin at the shop failed a test in 2008, and three failed in 2009. No test results were available for 2010, according to the release.