Settlement reached for bakery sewage discharge: Pilgrim Kitchen, Rolling Pin donut, Classic 101 Burgers and Shakes owner agrees to pay $47,000

Prosecutors filed the civil complaint after officials from Belmont police and public works departments as well as the county’s environmental health department determined more than 18,000 gallons of sewage, including human excrement and toilet paper from Pilgrim Kitchen, were discharged into a storm drain between March 1 and May 21, 2014.

After closing down for several months to conduct repairs last year, the bakery has since reopened and all of the food establishments are back up to code, according to prosecutors. Thursday’s agreement came after months of negotiations with Le ultimately agreeing to cease from discharging any more sewage and reimbursing the county for its investigation, according to the complaint.

Over the course of nearly four years, all three establishments were also found in violation of numerous health codes from failing to apply for permits to food preparers not washing their hands, according to the complaint.

“Our goal of civil enforcement is obviously to punish for the conduct, but it’s also to be a deterrent to other restaurateurs and other people in the business of someone like Mr. Le, so that this doesn’t happen again, that they do take this conduct seriously,” said Deputy District Attorney Megan Wilkins, who noted prosecutors worked to resolve the case instead of taking it to trial.

Le’s attorney Sanaz Nikaein said her client was extremely cooperative and regrettably, unknowingly hired an unlicensed contractor who performed faulty repairs to the sewer pipe.

“This was one of those very unfortunate situations where I think a language barrier played a role,” Nikaein said, adding her client had standing to litigate against many of the claims. However, she said, “he wanted to take responsibility especially for dumping in the Bay and he just wanted to do his part and resolve the case as quickly as possible.”

Nikaein noted Le had only leased the Pilgrim building since about 2010 and couldn’t comment on whether they would go after the illegal contractor — who Le knew as a customer who had a van and would always arrive in uniform.

According to the complaint, inspectors were first tipped when someone complained of a sewage odor and Belmont city officials traced it to black plastic pipe that was partially covered by newly poured concrete. During inspection, county environmental health officials sampled the brown substance and determined it was human feces and toilet paper leaking into a storm drain that discharged into the Bay. Le stated he paid a man named “Luis” $200 to fix the pipe, according to the complaint.

Belmont officials reported the leak to the state Water Resources Control Board, however, neither the city, prosecutors nor Nikaein have apparently heard back.

“Regarding the sewage, obviously our concern is to protect the environment. That storm drain was entering into the San Francisco Bay so our concern is obviously water quality and fish and wildlife that are in the water. So we take it seriously,” Wilkins said.

Le agreed to pay $25,000 for the leak and $2,500 for each code violation.

Many of the code violations, Nikaein argued, were minor — such as failing to properly display permits.

Still, in one January 2013 instance, inspectors noted vermin droppings and a dead mouse at Pilgrim Kitchen, Wilkins said.

Nikaein said that was an isolated incident and Le is committed to making improvements.

“Mr. Le took appropriate steps to basically ensure there would be no such thing again,” Nikaein said. “He still has people that come in and he pays for them once or twice a month to make sure there are no rodents in the facility.”

samantha@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 106