Man Goes To Jail In ‘Big Dumping Case’

COLUMBUS, Ohio—A man investigators said was running his own landfill on Columbus’ East Side is now in a Columbus jail.

It’s a story NBC 4 has been on since the beginning and Mike Bowersock reported with an update Thursday.

An entire garbage truck full of trash, 2,000 tires and countless other items were buried 20 feet underground and contaminating the ground water.

SWACO Communications Director John Remy said one trash truck was found five feet down at a junkyard at 1888 East 17th Ave., near the fairgrounds.

Bill Palmer with the Ohio EPA said there were rims off tires, scrap metal.

Ronald Gunn, 57, was jailed Wednesday.

Police, prosecutors and investigators said he buried his trash instead of paying to take it to the landfill.

Gunn was being charged with open dumping, operating a landfill and polluting ground water.

A simple tip call to the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio’s Nail-A-Dumper hotline resulted in the charge that could put Gunn behind bars until he’s 85 years old.

“This is the biggest dumping case that I can recollect during the time that I’ve been prosecutor,“ Franklin County prosecutor Ron O’Brien said.

“This was a big day,“ Palmer said. “It was a good day for the city of Columbus.“

The actual owner of the property apparently didn’t know what was going on – that his property was being used as a landfill, Bowersock said.

The illegal actions were discovered Nov. 5 but it took days to uncover and months to investigate.

The Nail-A-Dumper program is funded by SWACO. The team includes deputies from the Franklin County sheriff’s department, a prosecutor from the Franklin County prosecutor’s office, representatives from the Franklin County Health Department and an employee of the Columbus Refuse Division.

Residents may call the hotline at 614-871-5322 24 hours a day to report illegal dumping or littering. Or they may log on to