STOCK ISLAND, Fla. – A Key West man is facing a felony charge Wednesday after authorities accused him of trashing a Stock Island street with more than two dozen illegally-dumped mattresses and box springs, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.
The bedding, dumped at Front Street and Fourth Avenue, weighed more than 1,700 pounds, authorities said.
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According to authorities, a manager at a Key West hotel hired Michael Luis Herrera, 40, to replace beds at the establishment.
Herrera admitted to illegally dumping the mattresses Monday “in the hopes residents would take them and that he would return the following day to remove what was left,” MCSO spokesperson Adam Linhardt said.
But he never came back, deputies said, and Monroe County Solid Waste Management officials notified the sheriff’s office of the pile of bedding Tuesday.
“I believe better, cleaner, safer streets means better, cleaner, safer, neighborhoods, and arresting those who trash our neighborhoods is a top priority for me,” Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay said in a news release, having thanked the county’s waste management director for her assistance.
Herrera’s illegal dumping charge, a third-degree felony, could earn him up to five years in prison if convicted.