A 59-year-old Fort McCoy man is facing felony charges after Marion County deputies say he spent months secretly dumping almost 4,000 pounds of trash, old fencing, tires and even a fiberglass boat into a canal near his home. Kenneth Thompkins was arrested Thursday and booked on charges that include felony littering, methamphetamine possession and two counts of possessing drug paraphernalia.
According to WCJB, deputies say Thompkins had been throwing trash, appliances and miscellaneous debris into Deer Back Lake Canal, and Solid Waste officials later determined he had discarded roughly 3,980 pounds of material. The haul reportedly included old fencing, tree debris, household garbage, tires and a fiberglass boat. As WKMG reported, deputies responding to the 23381 NE 117th Court Road address in Fort McCoy on October 22 identified Thompkins as the person reportedly dumping trash into the canal, and a deputy observed a large pile of debris near a wood berm before arranging a date to remove it.
Dumping Allegedly Began in February, Mostly at Night
Dumping Allegedly Began in February, Mostly at Night Witnesses told investigators Thompkins had been dumping trash and debris into the canal since February, usually at night to avoid detection, the station's report notes. The sheriff's office investigation began after code enforcement reported the dumping.
On Monday, the Marion County Sheriff's Office Special Operations Unit used two airboats to haul the litter out of the canal, per the same account. County employees then collected and weighed the material for disposal, arriving at the roughly 3,980-pound total investigators attributed to Thompkins.
Meth and Paraphernalia Found in Wallet, Deputies Say
Deputies said they found methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia in Thompkins' wallet, leading to the additional drug charges stacked on top of the littering count. He was booked into the Marion County Jail on Thursday and released Friday after posting a $9,500 bond.
Florida's Littering Law and the Price Tag of Cleanup
Under the Florida Statutes, dumping litter into any freshwater lake, river, canal or stream is prohibited, and depositing more than 500 pounds or more than 100 cubic feet of litter is a third-degree felony. State law also allows a judge to order a convicted person to remove or render the litter harmless, repair any property damage, or perform related public service.
Marion County has been fighting this kind of dumping for years. Marion County says it spent $900,000 removing litter from county roadways in 2020 alone, picking up 1.3 million pounds of debris that year, and cites a Keep America Beautiful study estimating nearly 50 billion pieces of litter sit along the nation's roadways and waterways. The county's 28-member Litter Task Force, made up of government agencies, private companies and community groups, was created to develop a plan for tackling the problem.
Part of a Pattern Across Florida
Thompkins' case is far from an isolated one in the state this year. In the Ocala Wildlife Management Area, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers arrested a contractor, 32-year-old Eusebio Ramon, after more than 26,000 pounds of construction debris — about 13 tons of concrete, metal roofing and household trash — turned up illegally dumped, according to cleveland.com. Marion County Waste Management crews removed that debris as well.
Down in the Keys, 42-year-old Stephen James Dean was charged with illegal dumping after more than 3,000 pounds of debris was cleared from a makeshift campsite in Monroe County near Mile Marker 98, with a total of 3,500 pounds of trash ultimately hauled away, as reported by NBC6 South Florida. And in Manatee County, the Keep Manatee Beautiful Illegal Dumping Rapid Response Program removed 64,580 pounds of debris and made 107 landfill trips in its first six months, per MySuncoast, a program designed to assess reported dumping sites within 48 hours.
