WAGONER COUNTY, Okla. (KFOR) – An Oklahoma teenager will not be fined or face a misdemeanor charge after he allegedly dumped trash illegally near a local creek.
Authorities say he has already been punished enough after his parents found out about the alleged crime.
Wagoner County’s Environmental Quality Deputy Michelle Casady says she often finds trash scattered near Coal Creek.
This week, she found several trash bags filled with garbage. After sifting through some of the debris, she found an address that led her to Missy Greer’s home.
“By going through everything, we realized that it was our son that had done this,” Greer told FOX 23.
For years, the family has worked together to pick up trash near the creek, so Greer says she was shocked to learn that her 17-year-old was behind this instance of illegal dumping.
The teen admitted to his mistake, saying he was in a hurry.
“They pay the consequences by doing the right thing if they mess up, so we knew for a fact that he was going to be going back and picking up that trash- along with all the other trash that had been dumped, which is a lot,” Greer said.
After school, the family went back to the creek in their son’s brand new car and began loading up bags and bags of trash.
“They made him go down to Coal Creek, and he ended up having to fill up the trunk, the back seat, and the passenger’s seat with trash,” Casady said.
The sheriff says they didn’t feel like they needed to move forward with any charges in the case, saying the teen likely learned a valuable lesson and had already remedied the situation.
