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Police: Neighbors catch illegal dumper "red handed" in Detroit

Livonia man ticketed for dumping on the east side
Posted at 10:17 PM, Aug 17, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-17 23:28:22-04

When Mark Musleh pulled up in his Jeep Tuesday and started pulling out trash, people on East Grand Boulevard took out their smartphones and started rolling.

Then, they called police.

"You can't dump solid waste from a motor vehicle. He's supposed to take it to the proper storage and dispose of it," said DPD officer Beverly Wilson.

Police said Musleh lives in Livonia and runs a business cleaning out foreclosed homes. Neighbors recorded him several times dumping bags of trash and debris from a house on another street.

"We found out that he was cleaning out a house on one of the other blocks and bringing the debris over here on East Grand Boulevard, dumping. So he was caught red handed," Wilson said.

When police confronted Musleh they gave him a choice: remove the trash or they would issue him a $2,000 tickets. Musleh called a dump truck and cleaned up the mess.

Police impounded his Jeep.

Musleh could not be reached at his home for comment. A

woman who claimed to be his mother-in-law called the station and told 7 Action News he had only put out two bags of trash and had previously arranged to have a dump truck pick up the mess.

Police praised neighbors for taking a stand against illegal dumping.

"People are watching and we thank the citizens that notified us," Wilson said.