Judge fines man for spreading chemicals at homeless site

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – An Alaska judge fined an Anchorage businessman $6,500 for spreading a hazardous chemical on a site used by homeless people.

Anchorage District Court Judge Leslie Dickson on Tuesday fined Ron Alleva and ordered the company he co-founded, Grubstake Auction, to pay a $35,000 fine.

The Anchorage Daily News reports Alleva on June 7 directed employees to spread Zappit 73, a pool cleaner containing calcium hypochlorite, on ground within a block of a soup kitchen and homeless shelter.

Alleva is a longtime critic of Anchorage’s homeless policy. He has said he was cleaning up human feces, vomit and rotting food.

State prosecutors say the chemicals could have blinded people or killed them if the chemicals were ingested.

An Anchorage jury last month convicted Alleva of reckless endangerment, pollution and pesticide misuse.
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Information from: Anchorage Daily News, http://www.adn.com