Marcos Daniel Jiménez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Ricky D. Langlois, Special Agent-in-Charge, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Criminal Investigation Division, Jacksonville Area Office; and Tom Tramel, Director, Division of Law Enforcement for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, announced today that defendant, Kosta Prastos, pleaded guilty before United States District Court Judge K. Michael Moore in Miami, Florida, to a one-count Information, which charged that Prastos, in 1999, knowingly discharged pollutants, namely, rock and cement, into Florida Bay without a permit, in violation of the Clean Water Act, Title 33, United States Code, Section 1319(c)(2)(A).

After accepting Prastos’ guilty plea, Judge Moore sentenced Prastos to two years’ probation and ordered him to pay a $10,000 fine. Prastos also was ordered to demolish the illegally constructed barrier and restore the bay bottom, consistent with Florida Department of Environmental Protection requirements, and to pay an additional $7,762.00 to the Florida Keys Environmental Restoration Trust Fund as mitigation for impacts to the submerged lands.

According to statements made in Court, Prastos, a New Jersey resident, owns a home and bayfront property in Marathon. In 1998, Prastos applied for a permit to construct a dock and a weed barrier, but the permit application for the weed barrier was denied by Monroe County. During July 1999, Prastos, without any of the required permit, constructed a concrete and boulder wall in the waters of Florida Bay adjacent to his property, damaging sea grasses and other submerged land. The wall, which extended in an enclosed arc to form a protected lagoon adjacent to his property, would prevent smelly and unsightly sea weed from washing onto his property.

Mr. Jiménez commended the investigative efforts the Special Agents of the United States Environmental Protection Agency - Criminal Investigation Division and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Law Enforcement. The case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Jodi Mazer and Assistant United States Attorney Thomas Watts-Fitzgerald.