Convicted Robert J. Lucas Jr., of Lucedale, chief executive of Big Hill Acres Inc., and the two others of 41 charges, including conspiracy.

convicted Robert J. Lucas Jr., of Lucedale, chief executive of Big Hill Acres Inc., and the two others of 41 charges, including conspiracy. Lucas, his daughter, Robbie Lucas Wrigley, an Ocean Springs real estate agent; and M.E. Thompson, a professional engineer from D’Iberville, were accused of selling lots in Vancleave in a wetlands area with unworkable septic systems. In December 2005, U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola sentenced Lucas to nine years in prison. Lucas, Wrigley and Thompson also were ordered to pay more than US$1.4 million to mitigate west Jackson County wetlands. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld the convictions, rejecting the defendants’ arguments that evidence did not show a violation of the Clean Water Act. Defendants made misrepresentations that directly contradicted inspecting buyers’ observations,” the 5th Circuit said. Wrigley misrepresented the dryness of the site, for example, when buyers noticed wetlands and wetlands vegetation and questioned her about the wetlands.” Lucas’ two corporations were sentenced to five years’ probation and were subject to the US$1.4 million restitution and more than US$5 million in fines. Thompson, who designed and certified septic systems at the Big Hill Acres subdivision in Vancleave, and Wrigley, who sold the wetlands lots, were sentenced to seven years and two months in prison.

Federal prosecutors said the defendants knowingly polluted federally protected wetlands and area waterways by installing underground septic systems that malfunctioned in saturated soil; thwarted state and federal health and environmental regulators; and defrauded residents into buying uninhabitable land. Defendants’ attorneys argued there was no proof that area waterways were polluted by the septic systems. They also said the defendants complied with regulators. They argued the mobile home park did not flood during Hurricane Katrina and said homeowners there were selling lots at a profit. “The government presented evidence that defendants, despite warnings from agencies that they were installing septic systems in saturated soils, advertised the lots as ‘high and dry’ and, when asked by owners if there were wetlands on the property, responded that there were none,” the judges said. The ruling was issued by three 5th Circuit judges — Patrick E. Higginbotham, Jerry E. Smith and Priscilla Richman Owen. The decision was written by Higginbotham.