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George Gary Beesecker, 62, also was charged with misdemeanor tire dumping and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $50,000 fine if convicted of the felony.
According to the criminal complaint:
Someone reported an illegal dumpsite to the Winona County Sheriff's Department on Aug. 15, 2006. A sheriff's deputy then viewed satellite images that showed stacks of tires and an apparent dumpsite on Beesecker's property on Earls Road about three miles south of Ridgeway, Minn. Aerial photos taken by the deputy in January 2007 showed tires "strewn about" a ravine on Beesecker's land.
The deputy spoke with Beesecker on April 15, 2007. Beesecker said he had been junking cars for 15 years and had to remove the tires in order to get paid by salvage companies. He said he had been working "off and on" with an unnamed "accomplice" who brought the cars to Beesecker to junk.
He said the accomplice also delivered loads of tires on semi-trucks and dump trucks in the summer of 2006. Beesecker admitted renting construction equipment to bury "a couple hundred" tires in a ditch so he could build a road in the valley despite not having a permit to store tires.
Besides more than 100 tires scattered around a ravine, the deputy also saw abandoned televisions, refrigerators and air conditioners.
Beesecker was not arrested, but has been summoned to appear in court Aug. 6.
