FAIRMONT — On Aug. 5, the City of Fairmont had a mysterious dump of garbage show up on its newly-acquired Doerfler property, next to the Box Factory in the Beltline Neighborhood.
Thirty tons of gravel, as well as roughly 10 tons of concrete and stone lay inside the property. Although a chain-link fence with no trespassing signs was present, sections of it had been torn down by an unseen perpetrator. Material was dumped a second time on Sept. 16, the perpetrator continuing his streak of anonymity.
Or so Kirk Naternicola thought, until West Virginia Division of Natural Resources Police Officer Randall Kocsis slid two photographs captured by trail cameras placed by Fairmont City Police Detectives after the Aug. 5 trespass in front of Naternicola.
“The Defendant was evasive in regards to knowledge about who was responsible for the dumping,” states the criminal complaint. “Only after NRPO Kocsis displayed to the Defendant two(2) of the trail camera photos, did the Defendant admit to NRPO Kocsis he had recently dumped brush and construction materials on the Doerfler Properties.”
Kocsis arrested Naternicola on Oct. 17 on misdemeanor charges of violating a prohibition on dumping, trespassing and failing to extinguish a forest fire before leaving. Naternicola declined to comment for this story.
Naternicola is in the midst of the eminent domain process with the City of Fairmont. Marion County Circuit Court Judge Patrick Wilson granted the City right of entry to the derelict Box Factory. Naternicola owns the Box Factory, but the City decided to invoke eminent domain to obtain the building for demolition after negotiations to purchase the property between Naternicola and the City broke down. The City maintains Naternicola was not responsive to their communication. Naternicola claims the City was responsible for the communication failure. The City of Fairmont declined to comment for this story.
The City envisions reusing the area for recreational facilities and a rail trail connection. Most of the land needed for the project has already been donated or sold to the City and Naternicola is the last holdout. Two parcels of land, the former Doerfler property, sat adjacent to Naternicola’s property.
Kocsis’ report states Naternicola made a habit of storing equipment related to his masonry business on the Doerfler property, as well as dumping concrete, milled asphalt, stone, dirt and brush there. Similar deposits continued showing up on the property despite ownership changing hands. With the trash pile suspiciously similar to the type Naternicola previously left behind, City detectives decided to install trail cameras to capture future illegal activities.
The trail cameras caught Naternicola dumping brush and stone out of a dump truck where piles had been left before. They also caught him the next day dumping roof shingles and construction material on the Doerfler property. However, Kocsis let Naternicola go with a warning, asking Naternicola to clean up and dispose of all the materials he had left behind on the Doerfler property.
Naternicola disposed of roughly two tons of material, but on Sept. 19, he asked Kocsis if he could burn the brush.
“NRPO Kocsis told the Defendant that he (NRPO Kocsis) could not authorize the Defendant to burn brush on the land of another,” the report states.
The next afternoon, smoke rose from the Doerfler property.
Fairmont Police Chief Steve Shine notified Kocsis there was an unattended brush fire which required a response from the Fairmont Fire Department. A few days later, Kocsis reviewed the trail cameras once more with a member of the police department.
The cam revealed, after Naternicola had finished speaking to Kocsis, he used an excavator to retrieve the brush that had been dumped over a bank and dropped it on a brush pile located on the Doerfler property. He left and came back the next morning at 5 a.m., picked his favorite method of sparking flame and lit the brush on fire. Kocsis later met Naternicola at the Box Factory.
Naternicola admitted to setting the brush on fire before leaving with the materials he had loaded up and took them to the Meadowfill Landfill.
“The Defendant said he did not completely extinguish the brush pile fire before leaving,” Kocsis wrote.
There was still a significant amount of concrete, stone and brush left behind.
Naternicola posted $1,000 in bond for each charge. He is due for a plea hearing on Nov. 13.
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