Dairy Manager Sentenced for Role in Polluting Waterway With Waste That Caused a Fish Kill
TOLEDO, Ohio / Friday, September 11, 2026 – A 54-year-old man employed at a northern Ohio dairy was sentenced after he admitted responsibility for environmental pollutants that were dumped into a waterway.
Teunis Jan Willemsen, a citizen of the Netherlands residing in Frankton, Indiana, was sentenced to 15 months of probation and ordered to pay a $25,000 fine, as well as serve 100 hours of community service. U.S. Magistrate Judge Darrell A. Clay imposed the judgment Sept. 8 after Willemsen pleaded guilty in May to negligently discharging a pollutant in violation of the Clean Water Act. The discharge was dumped into the Little Black Creek, which is a tributary of Saint Mary’s River that flows to the Maumee River.
According to court documents, in December 2022 Willemsen was serving as the manager of Heartland Dairy, when investigators found that a discharge was being pumped from a settling basin on the dairy’s property into a nearby ditch that drained into a waterway. The discharge was analyzed and found to consist of manure and silage leachate, which contained concentrated amounts of ammonia—a pollutant—that resulted in the death of approximately 789 fish and 1,371 other aquatic animals.
“Reckless and careless business practices that threaten Ohio’s environment and wildlife will not be tolerated,” said U.S. Attorney David M. Toepfer for the Northern District of Ohio. “Let this sentence serve as a reminder that we will aggressively enforce federal environmental laws, and anyone found contributing to the diminishment of the quality of our land, air, and water will be prosecuted.”
“The defendant oversaw a discharge of ammonia-laden wastewater to Little Black Creek in the Maumee River, Ohio watershed that poisoned the water for miles and killed thousands of fish and other aquatic animals,” said Special Agent in Charge Allison Landsman of the EPA’s criminal enforcement program in Ohio. “Clean water is one of Ohio’s and America’s most valuable resources. This sentencing demonstrates that the EPA and our enforcement partners will investigate violations that pollute interstate waterways and hold polluters accountable.”
“Ohio’s waterways are vital to our communities, our wildlife and our economy. This case sends a clear message: those who pollute Ohio’s waterways will be held accountable,” said Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson.
The case was investigated by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Special Investigations Unit, with support from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Matthew D. Simko for the Northern District of Ohio, with assistance from Sasha Reyes, U.S. EPA Regional Criminal Enforcement Counsel.
If you have information or see activity that you believe is a potential or immediate environmental problem, please call the Ohio EPA 24-hour Hotline at 800-282-9378 or the National Response Center at 800-424-8802. Potential environmental violations can be reported at https://echo.epa.gov/report-environmental-violations.
Contact
Jessica Salas Novak
216-622-3921
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Ohio
