LEELANAU COUNTY, Mich., (WPBN\/WGTU) — A 71-year-old Leelanau County man faces a criminal charge after allegedly dredging and filling up to 2 acres of protected wetlands without a permit, despite repeated warnings from state environmental officials.<\/p>\n
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Tuesday that Vincent Tomczak, of Leland Township, was arraigned in 86th District Court on one count of filling, draining or dredging a wetland without a permit.<\/p>\n
According to Nessel’s office, Tomczak allegedly began dredging and filling between 1 and 2 acres of protected wetlands in 2023.<\/p>\n
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) sent multiple violation notices and restoration orders, contacted Tomczak directly and visited the property several times.<\/p>\n
Investigators also executed a search warrant at the property in 2024.<\/p>\n
Despite being notified that permits were required and that the wetlands needed to be restored, prosecutors allege Tomczak made no efforts to restore the property.<\/p>\n
The attorney general’s office said the alleged violations continued even after state officials issued notices.<\/p>\n
“Michigan protects its wetlands with strict regulations and, when necessary, criminal penalties,” Nessel said. “These protections help maintain a healthy environment and defend fragile and sometimes irreplaceable ecosystems.”<\/p>\n
The investigation was conducted by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division’s Environmental Investigation Section.<\/p>\n
The Michigan Attorney General’s Environmental Crimes Unit is prosecuting the case.<\/p>\n
Tomczak’s next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 27, 2027, for a pretrial conference in 86th District Court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEELANAU COUNTY, Mich., (WPBN\/WGTU) — A 71-year-old Leelanau County man faces a criminal charge after allegedly dredging and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":889263,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-889262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=889262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/889263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=889262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=889262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=889262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}