Fox River chemical dumping defendant fails to appear in court

One of two men accused of illegally dumping a chemical into a storm drain in South Elgin failed to appear at his preliminary hearing in court Friday.

Kane County Circuit Court Judge James Hallock issued a warrant for the arrest of An Hong, and set his bail at $500,000. If Hong is arrested, he will need to post $50,000 to get out of jail. "He may have left the country," assistant Attorney General Collette Kennedy told the judge, as she informed him of Hong's absence.

No attorney appeared on Hong's behalf.

A South Elgin police report about the May 15 incident indicated Hong, 32, a citizen of China, was in the United States on a visa.

His address is listed as the same as that of his co-defendant, Yu Tan Zheng, 34: the 800 block of Conley Drive, Elburn.

A Kane County grand jury indicted both men on felony and misdemeanor charges of water pollution. The company of which Zheng is president, D and Y Trade Inc., of South Elgin, has also been charged.

They are accused of pouring alkylbenzene sulfonic acid, an anionic surfactant, into a storm drain in a parking lot of the business. The storm drain discharges into a creek that feeds the Fox River. A man observing carp spawning in the creek in the 1100 block of North LaFox Street noticed suds, and fish dying, and called the police. Police say they traced the discharge to D and Y, 670 Sundown Road, and saw two men pouring something from a blue 55-gallon barrel in to a drain in the parking lot.

Zheng, in an interview with the Daily Herald before his indictment, said the incident was a "miscommunication" and that the acid is "not a chemical. It's a soap."

The material can be used to make liquid, powder and cake detergents, including dishwashing liquid, he said.

The next court date for Zheng, Hong and D and Y is Aug. 17.

South Elgin village authorities have ticketed the business for operating without an occupancy permit, working without an occupancy permit and littering an illicit discharge.