Three men accused of illegally dumping hundreds of gallons of asbestos waste near a school and a subdivision all pleaded not guilty or stood mute to felony charges Monday, but talks are under way to revise those pleas.

Dennis P. Szulborski, Sean V. MacLean and Stephen Day all appeared for a pretrial arraignment before Macomb County Circuit Judge Mark S. Switalski on charges of improper release and/or false statements about a hazardous substance, a 5-year felony, and misdemeanor charges.

Each in turn entered not guilty pleas or stood mute, and Switalski set a final pretrial date March 1 for the group. But attorneys on both sides confirmed Monday that it's possible some of the defendants will not have to stand trial.

"We're still talking about a possible plea or some kind of resolution to this case," said Jeff Burns, an attorney for Day, at Monday's hearing. "Nothing solid has been worked out, but we're still open to discussion."

Thomas Piotrowski, the assistant state attorney general handling the case, echoed that a plea bargain is still a possibility -- perhaps for Day and MacLean in return for testimony against Szulborski, who was their boss.

Piotrowski noted, however, that such a deal isn't a necessity for his case.
"Those things (plea talks) are always going on," Piotrowski said. "We have statements from both (Day and MacLean) ... and Mr. Szulborski also made a statement.

"Between the men getting a few hundred extra dollars at one point and being told to 'take care of it,' I'm pretty confident we could still obtain a conviction even without testimony from the two employees."

At issue are two vacant lot sites where hundreds of gallons of "asbestos waste" were found by Washington Township -- one along Jewell Road across from Powell Middle School, and another on Hidden Oak Lane in a housing subdivision north of 31 Mile Road.

An investigation by the Macomb County Health Department found markings on the containers that helped trace the waste to Allied Environmental, a Shelby Township-based asbestos removal company run by Szulborski.

A security videotape of the facility showed employees who appeared to be unloading or moving the barrels. Officials believe those employees were Day and MacLean; Szulborski, the company president, is not seen on the tape but was allegedly aware of his underlings' efforts as the company owner.

A homeowner of a nearby house under construction had found one dumping location, while Macomb County Road Commission workers spotted another, both within a few weeks of each other in late 2003.

In all, workers found several 55-gallon drums and many more 5-gallon containers, holding a total of 540 gallons at one location and 265 gallons at the other. Because of the proximity to Powell Middle School, health department workers said the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality had to immediately collect and dispose of the waste rather than wait to find those responsible and force them to do so, as is common practice. That alone cost the state $10,000 or more, which officials hope to recoup from the company in court.

Normally, improperly disposing of a hazardous substance like asbestos is a 2-year felony except in special circumstances that aggravate or augment the behavior to a 5-year felony, officials explained.

MacLean and Szulborski both remain free on a $10,000 personal bond. Day also has a personal bond in the case but remains incarcerated on some unrelated felony charges in Oakland County.