NASHVILLE, Tenn. -
Metro's Public Works Department was on the lookout for a man they say was caught on camera illegally dumping behind a school in the Hermitage area.
An angry resident snapped the photos of the man, his truck and his license plate number and gave the pictures to the department.
"I would personally like to see these people spend a night or two in jail as an ugly reminder of how ugly their actions are," Veronica Frazier of Metro's Beautification Commission told Nashville's News 2, adding, "This is clearly illegal activity."
While Public Works was investigating they got Nashville's News 2's Andy Cordan on the case.
Less than 12 hours later, Cordan had determined who the man was and got him to agree to return to the Metro Schools' property behind DuPont Tyler Middle School and cleanup his mess.
After filling up the bed of his pickup truck, Ray Nicholson told Nashville's News 2, "I was misinformed [that] this is an area to do the dumping."
He continued, "Last year I started working for a doctor behind me [and] he told me to put it here, that it was perfectly legal."
Nicholson said he just wanted to fix the problem and "make it right."
"I don't want Nashville to become a dumping ground," he added. "If everyone did this and it wasn't picked up, what would Nashville look like?"
Nicholson said he planned to bring the refuse to an authorized site.
According to Metro Public Works, illegal dumping is a huge problem in Davidson County. They say it's illegal and in this case, Nicholson could have served jail time.
