Macomb County men avoid jail after illegally dumping chemicals that turned Bear Creek fluorescent blue

Two Macomb County men who illegally dumped hazardous chemicals that ended up in Bear Creek in Warren, turning the water a fluorescent blue, dodged jail time and were fined just $3,500 each after pleading no contest to environmental crimes.

Saad Somo, 50, of Washington Township, and Marvan Talal-Razooqi Batoo, 40, of Shelby Township, were sentenced in 37th District Court in Warren, the same day they entered their pleas, the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office announced Monday evening.

Prosecutors requested that the men be placed on probation, but Judge John M. Chmura declined and sentenced each man to pay fines, costs, and a special assessment totaling $3,500.

The charges stem from a Feb. 11, 2024 incident, when Bear Creek turned a bright blue-green color. Investigators traced the contamination to a former metal finishing building in Warren, where the men had stored hazardous chemicals without proper safeguards. After frozen water lines burst in the unheated facility, the chemicals spilled, and the men flushed them into a storm drain leading to the creek, prosecutors said.

The men each pleaded no contest to four misdemeanors: operating a hazardous waste facility without a license, failing to keep required records, general liquid industrial waste violations, and attempted water resources protection violations. A two-year felony charge was dropped as part of the plea deal.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources supported the agreement after Somo and Batoo cooperated with cleanup efforts and reimbursed more than $172,000 in remediation costs to state and federal agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE).

“Reckless handling of hazardous chemicals poses a serious threat to both public health and our environment,” Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido said in a statement. “In this case, the defendants took responsibility by cleaning up the contamination they caused. Their cooperation and remediation efforts spared taxpayers the burden of cleanup costs and were appropriately considered in the resolution of the charges.”