Santa Clara County officials say that Elyacy was responsible for discharging toxic chemicals into the environment. He was even caught in the act of doing so, said the officials.

On Oct. 29, Elyacy was sentenced to four months in county jail by Superior Court Judge Kevin Murphy.

Elyacy had previously pleaded no contest to the charge and four other misdemeanor counts. He had also been accused of improper storage and handling of hazardous waste and material.

He will have to serve 200 hours in a community work program and pay $5,000 in fines and $5,000 in restitution.

"The incidents happened in late April last year. But Elyacy had prior violations for a number of years," said John Fioretta, deputy district attorney at the environmental protection unit of the county of Santa Clara. "He had similar violations before but not a record of any releases into the environment."

Inspectors from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District first suspected foul play and alerted the county department of environmental health's hazardous materials compliance division.

A toxic chemical called perchloroethylene is used in the dry-cleaning process. Elyacy was caught draining water that contained hazardous levels of the chemical into a floor drain that led to the city sewer. The wastewater is supposed to be kept in a container before it is disposed off at an approved place.

"Some of the chemicals used at a dry-cleaning facility are not supposed to sit there very long. Some of his stuff was incompletely labeled. There was no proper paperwork," said Fioretta. He said that Elyacy never bothered to correct his prior violations.

Fioretta said that it was extremely rare to catch someone in the act of dumping toxic chemicals.

"He never fixed his problem, he never got compliant. We vigorously prosecute people who violate environmental laws," he said.

Jim Blamey, program manager at the hazardous materials compliance division at the department of environmental health for the county, said that his department does everything they can to train and educate business owners. "We provide classes to any business that generates hazardous waste. It could be anyone from jewelry makers to an auto-repair workshop," said Blamey. "We hand out educational material during every inspection."

Blamey said that most businesses were very good about conforming to regulations. "But once in a while we run into a bad actor. What he was doing was pretty blatant, and he was caught in the act."

Fioretta said that the particular dry-cleaning business in Saratoga changed hands soon after the incident. "The new owners have changed the name of the business and have followed all the regulations," he said.