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Patrols boosted at plants after loitering
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET, Times Staff Writer
PORT RICHEY -- The Pasco County Sheriff's Office has increased patrols around two west side sewage treatment plants after reports of people lingering around the facilities and taking pictures. The extra patrols past the Embassy Hills and Hudson wastewater treatment plants are a precaution, Sgt. Kathy Fossa said. Neither facility provides drinking water, and it is unclear what would make either one a possible target. "They've evaluated the risk, and it's extremely minimal," Fossa said. "They don't know why that would be a target or why someone would take pictures of it, and that's why it's being treated as suspicious." The first report came Saturday evening from the Embassy Hills plant in Port Richey, where two men were seen using a camera with a 6-inch telephoto lens, according to sheriff's office reports. Lt. George Truell, who was on duty at the Pasco Fire Rescue station next door to the plant, told deputies the men pulled up at about 5:30 p.m. to the facility at 9512 Crabtree Lane. The passenger turned to face the plant, lifted his camera and appeared to be taking pictures of the facility's chlorine tanks, the report said. When Truell started walking toward the metallic blue Toyota to confront the men, the car took off. He was unable to see its license plate, the report said. Joel Lawrentz, the plant's operator, saw two men in a similar car about 8 p.m. Saturday. The car was parked with its headlights off near the fence that runs the perimeter of the plant, the report said. The car was still there about 8:30 p.m., when county sludge truck driver David Weibley pulled up to the plant. Weibley told deputies he saw someone outside the car peering through the fence with a flashlight. When Weibley shut off his engine, the man got in his car and left, the report said. Truell described both men as 30 to 40 years old with "big, bushy dark mustaches." Lawrentz said one man was about 6 feet tall with a medium build and was wearing a white shirt and dark pants. The other man was wearing a light blue shirt and dark pants. As word spread of the incident Saturday night, the Hudson wastewater treatment plant operator called in with a similar story. Mitchell Robert Lang told deputies that two men had come to the Hudson plant at 10745 Denton Ave. around March 1 and asked to take pictures of the facility. Because there was no supervisor available that weekend, a worker at the plant told the men to come back Monday and ask his boss, the report said. On their way out, the men stopped at the front gate, got out of their blue convertible and took pictures of the facility, Lang told deputies. They did not return. Both county-operated plants treat wastewater and pipe it out for "reuse" to irrigate lawns and golf courses. Neither one provides drinking water for household use. In the heightened security climate after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the county included both plants on a list of facilities that should be watched for any suspicious activity, Fossa said. The sheriff's Community Oriented Policing units already patrol past those facilities, she said. "The patrols are increasing now because of these incidents," Fossa said. "But they were already being watched."
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