A Conneaut man caught dumping debris in a field along Hayden Avenue has pleaded guilty to felony attempted open dumping, and a judge ordered him to spend two years on probation, eight days cleaning up other dump sites around East Cleveland, and to personally clean up the mess he left behind.
Christopher Poklar, who lived in Conneaut, Ohio, was stopped by East Cleveland police after a witness reported seeing his dump truck unload concrete and other debris in a field along Hayden Avenue in August, according to News 5 Cleveland WEWS. Video reviewed in the case showed the truck passing with a load and returning minutes later empty, the station reports. Poklar denied being in the field or dumping anything, but police informed him that illegal dumping in East Cleveland is a felony, per the same account.
The sentence - two years of probation along with the cleanup requirements - was handed down as part of the city's broader crackdown on illegal dumping, the station notes. East Cleveland is treating cases like Poklar's as a warning to others, with city leaders hoping the anti-dumping message spreads throughout the community.
A Problem Years in the Making
Illegal dumping has plagued East Cleveland for years, and the city announced its latest crackdown in June. Mayor Sandra Morgan has described the issue as “a trend years in the making,” a characterization reported by Cleveland 19 News. In one neighborhood, illegal dumping reportedly returns every few weeks to a street at the end of Beersford Road, according to a separate Cleveland 19 News report.
Donquell Howard, who lives nearby, said illegal dumping makes the neighborhood look bad and discourages investment. He told News 5 Cleveland he was glad to see there were consequences in Poklar's case.
East Cleveland Law Director Ken Myers said the city will catch and punish people who dump debris or junk there, and that each case prosecuted will improve the city a little. Myers said roughly half a dozen more illegal dumping cases are currently moving through the courts.
City Ordinance and State Penalties
East Cleveland's municipal code defines illegal dumping as solid waste exceeding five pounds in weight or five cubic feet in volume placed on public or private property when it tends to create a public-health, safety, or welfare hazard or is declared a nuisance, according to the East Cleveland Code of Ordinances. The ordinance empowers city law-enforcement and code-enforcement officers to investigate once there is sufficient probable cause to believe a violation is occurring.
Separately, Ohio Revised Code Section 3734.99(A) generally applies to a person who recklessly violates covered provisions and provides for a fine between $10,000 and $25,000, imprisonment for two to four years, or both, per the Ohio Revised Code.
A County-Wide Fight Against Dumping
East Cleveland has also introduced a partnership with the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Environmental Crimes Task Force to investigate, catch, and prosecute illegal dumpers, News 5 Cleveland reported in earlier coverage of the city's enforcement push. The task force works to investigate and prosecute environmental crimes, particularly open dumping, bringing Cleveland and Cuyahoga County law-enforcement agencies together to address the problem across the county's 59 communities, according to Cuyahoga Recycles. The state itself launched its own Shine a Light on Dumpers initiative back in 2023, per the same source.
Mayor Morgan has said the city placed cameras in illegal-dumping hot spots so that even when officials cannot respond immediately, as reported by Ideastream Public Media, “we at least have their contact details and we can go after them later.”
The Cost of Cleanup Elsewhere in the City
The scale of East Cleveland's dumping problem shows up in the size of its cleanup projects. In May 2025, the city completed cleanup and soil remediation of a former illegal-dumping site on Chapman Avenue, demolishing dozens of buildings and removing 250 tons of dumped waste, funded through a $4.1 million investment from the Ohio Department of Development and the Cuyahoga Land Bank, Ideastream reported. Years earlier, the Ohio EPA announced it had finished removing the final pieces of illegally dumped trash from the ARCO Recycling site after eight months and more than $8.8 million in cleanup costs, according to Cleveland 19 News.
More recently, city crews removed piles of garbage, discarded furniture, and bags of trash from East 133rd Street after a news report highlighted the conditions there, Cleveland 19 News reported. Those recurring cleanups, paired with cases like Poklar's working their way through the courts, are the backbone of East Cleveland's effort to turn the tide on a problem officials say has built up over years.
