Tens of thousands of fish were found dead in a local river and now a husband and wife have been charged with poisoning them.
In April of this year, nearly 31,000 dead fish were found floating in a three mile stretch of the Rocky River.
Federal and state officials announced charges against Renato Montorsi, 79, and his wife Teresina, 74, along with their collectible coin company located in Strongsville, Kennedy Mint, Inc.
“Last April, Mr. Montorsi tried to dispose of a drum of liquid cyanide by putting it in a dumpster, the drum was marked as being toxic, clearly labeled as such and it clearly had the poison sign, the skull and crossbones on the drum,” said Steven Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
Investigators said the garbage company refused to take the dumpster, and allege that Montorsi found his own way of disposing of the chemical.
“He took a hammer and a sharp metal object, according to the indictment, and punched a hole in the drum after he had moved it to a storm drain, a storm drain that fed directly into a branch of the Rocky River,” Dettelbach said.