Four men and four businesses, including a mammoth movie theater, were charged with illegally dumping raw sewage into a Brooklyn waterway after neighbors complained of “noxious, unbearable odors,” the Brooklyn DA announced today.
The UA Sheepshead Bay theater, TGI Friday’s, Knapp Street Bagels and the Deauville Marina released untreated sewage containing toilet paper and fecal matter into Shell Bank Creek, which flows into Jamaica Bay and eventually the Atlantic Ocean, DA Charles Hynes said.
The area is not served by city sewer lines and the businesses failed to repair private wastewater lines despite several warnings from city officials, Hynes said.
“There is no excuse for the disgraceful pollution of our waterways and beaches,” Hynes said.
“[This is] a sustained pattern of individual and corporate misconduct dating back to 2003.
Deauville Marina maintained an outhouse that dumped directly into the creek, Hynes said.
The bagel shop and TGI Friday’s also dumped untreated waste grease and oil into the waterway, the DA said.
Also charged along with their businesses were Craig Novoa of Regal Entertainment Group, the parent of the UA Sheepshead Bay multiplex, Simon Shin of Knapp Street Bagels, David Matalon of Deauville Marina and, Alex Spivak, the landlord of Friday’s.
The spokesman for Regal Entertainment did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The manager at TGI Friday’s declined to comment; a corporate spokeswoman did not immediately return a call for comment.
Reps for Knapp Street Bagels and Deauville Marina did not return calls for comment.