TOPEKA – The owner of a metal plating company in Minneapolis, Kansas, was sentenced Monday to four months in federal prison followed by six months home confinement for violating the federal Clean Water Act according to U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom.

His company was fined $10,000. In addition, he and his company were ordered to pay $281,503 in restitution.

Kevin L. Cline, 56, Minneapolis, owner of C & R Plating, pleaded guilty to one count of violating the federal law that regulates discharges into America’s creeks and rivers. The company pleaded guilty to the same count.

In his plea, Cline admitted he was responsible for high levels of zinc found in a sewer system operated by the City of Minneapolis, Kansas. Beginning in 2007, Cline submitted false and fraudulent samples and reports to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to conceal the fact that untreated waste water from C & R Plating was being delivered to the Minneapolis sewer system. The water came from spent chemical baths used in treating metals. The city sewer system discharges into the Solomon River via Lindsey Creek and an unnamed tributary.

Grissom commended the Environmental Protection Agency and Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Hathaway for their work on the case.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.