SANTA ANA – Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, along with 11 other District Attorneys across California, announced the Orange County District Attorney’s Office has reached a $3.15 million settlement with Clark Pest Control of Stockton, Orkin Services of California, and Crane Pest Control. This settlement resolves allegations the companies violated state laws involving the unlawful disposal of pesticides, hazardous waste, and the allegations these companies failed to take reasonable steps to protect customers’ private information.
Clark, Orkin, and Crane provide residential and commercial pest control services and are owned by Georgia-based parent company Rollins, Inc. The companies operate more than 70 facilities throughout California, including numerous facilities in Orange County, where these violations occurred.
“Companies who break the law, endanger the environment, and put the citizens of Orange County at risk must be held accountable,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “This case reinforces the urgent need for stronger compliance measures, and I am proud of the investigators in my office as well as those in other District Attorney’s offices whose diligent work brought these violations to light.”
The investigation, which was led by the District Attorney Offices of Contra Costa and San Mateo Counties, began in 2021. Between March 2021 and February 2022, District Attorney Investigators throughout California, including Orange County, conducted unannounced compliance waste audits of 40 dumpsters at 22 separate Clark and Orkin facilities. These audits uncovered thousands of unlawfully disposed items which included pesticide liquids, powders, foams, baits, pellets and aerosol sprays as well as other hazardous waste materials such as batteries, e-waste, hand sanitizers, caulking, adhesives, and facility cleaning solutions. During these audits, inspectors uncovered thousands of improperly discarded customer records. These included documents such as service orders, contracts, invoices, and route reports, many of which had not been shredded and were instead disposed of in regular trash receptacles.
After prosecutors notified Clark and Orkin of these violations, they cooperated fully with prosecutors and immediately took steps to improve their policies and procedures relating to hazardous waste handling and the protection of confidential customer records.
Under the stipulated final judgment, Clark, Orkin, and Crane will pay a total of $3,150,000. This includes: $2,017,000 in civil penalties; $400,000 in Supplemental Environmental Compliance Projects; $400,000 in credit for Supplemental Environmental Compliance Measures; and $333,000 in investigative costs.
The judgment also requires the companies to comply with a permanent injunction mandating significant operational reforms for a period of no less than five years. These include a retention of a third-party auditor to conduct dumpster audits at a minimum of 10% of its facilities each year for five years. The companies must then report the findings of these dumpster audits to the prosecutors. Further, the judgment requires all employees at each California facility to complete an annual training program that ensures compliance with applicable pesticide waste and hazardous waste management. They must also devote a minimum of two thousand hours per year (for each year in which the judgment remains in effect) to enhanced environmental compliance measures, including: compliance reviews of waste accumulation areas; oversight of waste minimizations efforts by company technicians; and oversight of enhanced hazardous waste compliance management.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office was joined by the District Attorneys of Alameda, Contra Costa, Monterey, Riverside, San Diego, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma, Ventura, and Yolo counties in this lawsuit.