Orleans Parish resident Bryant Joseph Ballard pleaded guilty Friday, Jan. 18, in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court for illegal disposal of waste tires and unauthorized use of a movable.
In Feb. 2018, Ballard, 57, was arrested by New Orleans Police Department officers for theft of a U-Haul truck and an outstanding Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) warrant for illegal disposal of waste tires in New Orleans East. As a result of an extensive investigation, agents concluded that Ballard was using rented U-Haul trucks to collect and illegally dispose of waste tires in New Orleans East. After conducting numerous hours of covert surveillance, investigators with the LDEQ Criminal Investigation Section obtained an arrest warrant for Ballard on Dec. 1, 2017.
The LDEQ warrant outlined four counts of illegal disposal of waste tires in New Orleans and New Orleans East. The investigation was handled by a task force comprising of agents from LDEQ, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF), the Louisiana State Police, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement and NOPD.
On Friday, Jan. 18, 2019, Ballard pleaded guilty to all charges. The Honorable Judge Keva Landrum-Johnson sentenced Ballard to the statutory maximum of two years in prison for unauthorized use of a movable and to the statutory maximum of one year for illegal disposal of waste tires. Judge Landrum-Johnson ordered Ballard to serve the two sentences consecutively for a total of three years.
“Cases like this send the message that this department will not go easy on waste tire disposal violators,” LDEQ Secretary Dr. Chuck Carr Brown said. “Our CIS personnel put in many hours of time and effort to stop these perpetrators and send our message to others: If you break the law, we’re coming after you.”
LDWF Secretary Jack Montoucet said, “I applaud everyone that helped make this case. The horrible practice of dumping tires is devastating to our fishing, hunting and recreational areas that our residents and visitors want to enjoy.”
The prosecution was handled by the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office, District Attorney Leon A. Cannizzaro and Assistant District Attorney Darius Greene.