File this under absolutely horrible ideas.
A Norfolk, VA dockmaster and his assistant are accused of staging an oil spill. William Pont and Winston Williams were charged Wednesday afternoon for illegal dumping and giving a false report.
Members of The Environmental Crimes Unit and Coast Guard officials reportedly recovered several beer bottles filled with turkey fryer oil and motor oil in the cockpit of the sunken vessel Problem Child.
Pont repeatedly contacted city officials after the Problem Child sank in September, claiming the vessel was polluting the water. The day before the beer bottle discovery, the hazmat team responded to another call from Pont and discovered a sheen on the water. The fire department placed a boom around the boat as a safety precaution.
Surveillance video recovered at the American Legion Marina off Colley Avenue, where Pont is the dockmaster, reportedly shows him and assistant dockmaster Williams filling the beer bottles with the oil and going onto the sunken vessel. The video also shows Pont walking onto the boat holding a used oil filter, according to Norfolk spokeswoman Lori Crouch.
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