The owner of a Fayette County waste-hauling business has been charged with illegally burning and dumping waste.

David Michael Franks, 56, of Uniontown, owner of Franks Sanitation, is accused of transporting household and business waste to his business site in Lemont Furnace.

State Attorney General Tom Corbett said Mr. Franks then removed recyclables and piled up the remaining waste or burned it. Nearby residents reported smoke at the site to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Mr. Corbett said that when agents from the attorney general office's environmental crimes section searched the site on Nov. 8, they saw three large waste fires, many piles of waste, including household trash, tires and demolition debris.

Charges against Mr. Franks include six counts of illegally burning waste, and one count each of dumping solid waste, transporting solid waste, operating a waste facility without a permit and creating a public nuisance.

He faces a year in prison and fines of $1,000 to $25,000. Two charges of violating state air pollution laws, second-degree misdemeanors, were also filed, punishable with up to two years in prison and a $50,000 fine.