By JOSEPH KELLARD and JERRY BURKE
Todd Zeidman, who ran the daily operations of Millennium Dry Cleaners on Hempstead Turnpike in West Hempstead, was arrested in March on one count each of endangering public health, safety or the environment in the third degree and unlawful discharge of industrial waste to a publicly owned treatment works, both class E felonies punishable by up to four years in prison and fines of up to $100,000.
In a plea bargain, announced in April by Nassau County District Attorney Denis Dillon, Zeidman pled guilty to one count of fourth-degree endangering public health, safety or the environment, a class A misdemeanor.
At Millennium, Zeidman was responsible for the handling of the perchloroethylene (tetrachloroethylene), a chemical solvent used primarily by dry-clearners that removes dirt and stains from clothing. Discharge of liquid perc into the sewer system is prohibited by county and state laws, unless prior authorization has been obtained and the chemical has been pretreated to neutralize its harmful effects. Some environmental studies have suggested that repeated, frequent overexposure to perc over months or years may have long-lasting and possibly permanent effects on the nervous system, but that the exposure levels at which these effects occur are still unknown.
"The defendant admitted that during the autumn of 2002, he regularly dumped perc into the toilet at his business," Dillon said. In Sept. 2002, the County Department of Health referred a complaint to Dillon's office alleging that Zeidman regularly dumped chemicals into the toilet at Millennium.
"Our subsequent investigation determined -- from sewer samples obtained by the Department of Public Works and from samples of liquid and sludge obtained, under a search warrant, from the traps in the discharge pipes at the cleaners -- that perc was being illegally discharged into the sewer system," Dillon said.
With the plea, Zeidman will likely avoid jail time. "We expect him to face a $20,000 fine," Dillon said. Zeidman will be sentenced on May 28 in District Court.
Meanwhile, he plans to open a new cleaners on Austin Boulevard between Florida and Georgia avenues, according to a Herald source in the dry-cleaning industry.
A man who first identified himself as Zeidman declined to confirm that he was opening a new store in Island Park, telling the Herald, "We don't give out any information to anybody. I'm not confirming anything. Everything is my business, nobody else's business." Asked if he was the Todd Zeidman who pled guilty to the formentioned charges, the man said, "No. He doesn't live here."
