Alaska strip club owner gets probation in waste dumping case
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}An Alaska man convicted of illegally dumping human waste into a harbor from a floating strip club he was operating has been spared serving any prison time.
Darren Byler was sentenced Monday to five years of probation and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. Prosecutors were seeking an 18-month prison term.
Byler, who plans to appeal the federal case, says he was targeted because of disapproval over the business he ran on the 94-foot "Wild Alaskan," a converted crabbing boat.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Byler was convicted in 2015 of dumping sewage in violation of the federal Refuse Act and for lying to federal authorities about it. His wife, Kimberly Riedel-Byler, was found not guilty of the same charges.
Federal prosecutors say Byler piped sewage aboard Wild Alaskan bathrooms into the harbor near Kodiak in 2014.