Police: Surveillance camera helps catch man illegally dumping trash in Lawrence

Jill Harmacinski, The Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, Mass.
·2 min read

May 8—LAWRENCE — Police said they used a city surveillance camera to identify a man who dumped bags of trash illegally, and then ordered him to pick up the trash.

The man, age 40, faces a civil fine for dumping the trash, police said.

Police said that just after 8 a.m. Thursday, Officer Abel Cano, the Police Department's business liaison officer, got an anonymous text from a concerned resident about 10 bags of trash dumped of 396 Water St. near Nightingale Court. The area is next to the Merrimack River, police said.

Cano, along with city inspector Horacio Rodriguez, went to the area. They viewed video from a surveillance camera set up by the city and saw that a silver Acura SUV had pulled up in the area, according to a police report. They were able to see the license plate on the Acura, according to the report.

Using the surveillance video, the investigators saw that the Acura drove into the the area around 11 a.m. on Tuesday, the report said. The driver stopped and then backed up to the edge of a wooded area "where it is most secluded and difficult for homeowners to see from their backyard," according to police.

Cano said the area has been popular with people illegally dumping trash in the past.

On the video, a man with a stocky build and wearing a dark hoody coat, white baseball cap and white face mask was seen getting out of the Acura, opening the rear of the vehicle and then "throwing large bags of trash" onto the ground, according to the police report.

The man then got back into the Acura and drove away, police said.

Investigators said they then tracked down a woman who owned the Acura and spoke to her. She said she had lent the car to the man on the video, according to police.

Investigators then contacted the man and told him to return to the area and pick up the trash bags, police said.

"They were further advised to legally and properly dispose of the dozen trash bags in a dump site that would give them a receipt, confirming that it was properly discarded," Cano wrote in his report.

Cano and Rodriguez supervised the removal of the trash bags, police said.

Follow staff reporter Jill Harmacinski on Twitter @EagleTribJill.