A California resident has recently been sentenced to five years in federal prison for illegally storing toxic and explosive hazardous wastes, including gunpowder and lead-contaminated waste.

The sentence is currently the longest that has ever been handed down by a California federal judge in a hazardous waste case.

A California resident has recently been sentenced to five years in federal prison for illegally storing toxic and explosive hazardous wastes, including corroded ammunition, gunpowder and lead-contaminated waste.

The resident, named Edward Wyman, had been living in Reseda, Calif. prior to being convicted on April 5, 2011 after a five-day trial.

Wyman was convicted of violating the federal government's Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). He was also found guilty of placing other people in harm's way as his hazardous wastes could have led to injury or death.

"Illegally storing toxic and explosive hazardous wastes is a crime and, in this case, a very dangerous one," said Cynthia Giles, the assistant administrator for the EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. "[This] sentence shows that there are consequences to breaking the law and putting the public at risk."

In addition to storing gunpowder and other materials, Wyman had been accumulating military M6 cannon powder, as well as industrial solvents that contained tetrachloroethylene and 1,1,1-trichloroethane, two highly potent chemicals listed as hazardous substances according to federal law.

Perhaps worse of all, Wyman did not have a permit to store any of the materials he had accumulated.

Wyman's sentence is currently the longest that has ever been handed down by a California federal judge in a hazardous waste case.

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