ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, Md. — A Maryland man will be incarcerated for 60 days after admitting to illegally dumping thousands of gallons of diesel fuel around Anne Arundel County.
Attorney General Anthony G. Brown said Tuesday that 46-year-old Larry A. Gross pleaded guilty to the unlawful discharge of oil, violating Maryland environmental laws earlier this month.
According to officials, Gross was the lead operator of H&M Truckin, LLC, and a contracted employee of M Pittman Enterprises (MPE), a fuel distribution company headquartered in Manassas, Virginia. The Maryland Office of the Attorney General’s Environment and Natural Resources Crime Unit (ENRCU) and the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) say he dumped 5,342 gallons of diesel fuel between three locations in Anne Arundel County.
Investigators say Gross was moving 7,500 gallons of diesel fuel on Oct. 3, 2023, from Baltimore City when he stopped to deliver 2,159 gallons to a Quarles fuel depot in Elkridge.
Tanker truck drivers, like Gross, are paid by the number of pickup fuel loads, not the number of deliveries. However, tanker trucks cannot carry both diesel fuel and gasoline at the same time. If the tanker truck driver has leftover diesel fuel, it must be completely emptied before it can be filled with gasoline, and vice versa.
On Oct. 4, 2023, investigators say Gross dumped diesel fuel on the shoulder of Route 10 in Brooklyn Park just after 2 a.m. Less than an hour later, he stopped in the 500 block Digiulian Blvd. in Glen Burnie to dump even more fuel. This time, a camera caught Gross in the act, showing the diesel fuel running down the back toward the front of the truck. It then flowed down the roadway, where Gross drove through it as he turned the truck around and left.
The roadway the fuel flowed down leads to a storm drain, which empties into a local sediment pond. Investigators found approximately 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel was dumped and discharged into the pond.
A little more than an hour later, Gross returned to the shoulder of Rt. 10 to dump even more diesel fuel. After dumping more than 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel, Gross returned to the Baltimore City fuel terminal to fill his tanker truck with 8,200 gallons of gasoline.
A judge sentenced Gross to a year of incarceration, with all but 60 days suspended. Gross will spend the nearly two-month sentence at the Anne Arundel County Detention Center. Additionally, Gross will have to pay a $10,000 fine to the Maryland Oil Disaster Containment, Clean Up, and Contingency Fund and spend five years under supervised probation.
“Illegally dumping thousands of gallons of diesel fuel is an irresponsible act that jeopardizes public health. Toxins from this fuel can harm our waterways, contaminate our soil, and endanger our health,” said Attorney General Brown. “Our Office will take action against truck drivers who risk Marylanders’ safety in order to make a profit. Trucker drivers who handle fuel must comply with Maryland’s laws and dispose of it properly.”
