US | Wed Sep 23, 2015 12:33am EDT

New York cherry company pleads guilty to marijuana, environmental charges

BY VICTORIA CAVALIERE

A New York City cherry company pleaded guilty on Tuesday to criminal charges of marijuana possession stemming from plants growing in the business's Brooklyn basement and to dumping waste into city sewers, prosecutors said.

The pleas came seven months after investigators raided Dell's Maraschino Cherries, based in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and the company's owner committed suicide in a bathroom at the facility.

The company will pay $1.2 million, including $130,000 in cash seized from the premises, and pleaded guilty to marijuana possession and failing to monitor wastewater dumped into the nearby New York Harbor, the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office said.

The company will be allowed to continue operating, attorney Michael Farkas said.

"This favorable settlement with the Brooklyn DA, the NY City DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) and the NY State DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) allows Dell's not only to continue to operate, but to grow and expand its business in the future," Farkas said in an email.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]