The owner of a Redwater, Texas, mobile home park has been charged with a felony for allegedly allowing raw sewage to run onto and from his property without action for more than a year.
David Michael Clampitt, 45, of Shreveport, La., was arrested last month for intentionally or knowingly engaging in the unauthorized discharge of sewage. According to a probable cause affidavit, the untreated waste is being dumped from a failing sewage system at Cody Circle Mobile Home Park on Farm to Market Road 991 in Bowie County.
From the mobile home park property, the sewage runs into a small creek and onto a neighboring property where it makes its way into a small private lake and later into a main water source for Texarkana, Texas.
“The small creek runs to a private lake, then to Boone Creek, a larger creek, and into Wright Patman Lake, which is a water source for the Texarkana area,” the affidavit states.
Bowie County’s sewer inspector allegedly told investigators that Clampitt claimed in 2016 that he was having the sewer system at the residential park replaced. In March 2017, officials were called to Cody Circle for “poor living conditions, safety issues and sewer running onto the ground,” the affidavit states.
“We made contact with David Clampitt by phone, email and certified mail with a 39-page report of the problems at the mobile home park,” the affidavit states. “Some minor items were repaired. There was no work completed to the sewer system on the front east side of the property that was discharging sewer waste onto the ground.”
Clampitt appeared in court last week with Texarkana attorney Cary Rochelle for a pre-indictment hearing before 5th District Judge Bill Miller. Rochelle said he believes the case can be resolved without the need for a grand jury to issue a formal indictment.
Clampitt is facing two to 10 years in prison if found guilty.
