A Hardin County man is sentenced to 150 hours of community service and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine after a large fish kill in the Scioto River. 73-year-old Mark Shepherd was also sentenced to 12 months probation and must pay more than $22,000 in restitution to the Division of Wildlife for the value of the dead fish. More than 43,000 dead fish were collected, including smallmouth bass, flathead, catfish, and minnows. 

May 8, 2024, Press Release from the United States Attorney’s Office Northern District of Ohio: TOLEDO - An Ohio man pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act by dumping pollutants and hazardous substances into waterways that killed thousands of fish in the Scioto River. According to court documents, on April 17, 2021, Mark Shepherd, age 72, Kenton, Ohio, negligently, and without a permit or in violation of a permit, discharged into the Scioto River near Kenton, Ohio, approximately 7,000 gallons of a substance containing ammonia, a pollutant and hazardous substance. The substances originated from Shepherd’s facilities—Cessna Transport Inc. and A.G. Bradley Inc.—which he owned and operated in the Northern District of Ohio, Western Division.