A Garland man is in trouble with the law after deputies say he dumped used cooking oil and grease into a Parker County drainage ditch.
The Parker County Sheriff's Office says deputies were called to a report of a commercial truck dumping oil along the 1700 block of West FM 1885.
Deputies questioned Jimmy Williams who reported his truck was stuck in the mud on the side of the road and he thought he could lighten his load to get out.
Investigators with the environmental crimes unit said he dumped around 100 gallons of sludge into a ditch filled with water.
The moving water carried the oil and grease approximately a fourth of a mile and, according to the Parker County sheriff's office, the watershed feeds the lake at Mineral Wells State Park.
Williams was arrested at the scene for unauthorized discharge, a felony violation of the Texas Water Code.
"People should understand that it is a serious crime to dump pollutants in our environment," said Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler.
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Texas BiProducts, the company that reporteldy owns the truck Williams was driving, was contacted and a private company cleaned up the site.
Williams was released from the Parker County Jail on $15,000 bond.
