A Mesa man has been ordered to pay a $5,500 fine and serve three years on probation for dumping grease and wastewater into local sewer systems.

Patrick Neel was the service manager of A-1 Restaurant Services, a Phoenix restaurant-maintenance company that provides waste-removal services, including grease trap pumping and cleaning.

Neel pleaded guilty for his role in a felony violation of the Clean Water Act.  Prosecutors say he acknowledged that in 2008 and 2009, he instructed a company employee to dump restaurant grease and wastewater into the sewer system.

Trucked or hauled grease and wastewater is a pollutant under the Clean Water Act and may not be discharged into a publicly-owned treatment works except at approved locations.

Federal prosecutors say the company had previously pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor Clean Water Act violation The court ordered A-1 to pay a $200,000 fine and serve three years of probation.