A Former Pennsylvania resident admitted to illegal dumping operations and was sentenced to a long probation period and ordered to clean up dump sites.

Michael Lee Stine, 47, formerly of Mount Bethel, Northampton County, and now of Fayetteville, North Carolina, and his former company, MS Recycling of Bangor, were in Carbon County court on Monday to enter guilty pleas.

Stine pleaded to two counts of criminal mischief, both felony threes, and five counts of unlawful conduct, all misdemeanor threes. In a plea bargain with the state Attorney General’s office, all other counts were dropped. Stine was originally charged with 16 criminal counts and his company with 27.

The plea agreement also spares Stine any jail time if he lives up to the somewhat complicated plea agreement.

Judge Joseph J. Matika, who accepted the pleas, noted the two felony counts carry minimum prison terms of some where between six and 16 months. However, the plea agreement calls for a sentence in the mitigated range of probation. The probation period is 10 years, however, it could only be three years if Stine cleans up two sites where some of the illegal dumping occurred.

The state charged that Stine had his employees dump construction and demolition waste at various locations in Carbon, Northampton and Luzerne counties. Most of the material came from a Staten Island, New York, location.

In Carbon County, East Penn Township police discovered the first pile, located on township-owned property along Riverview Road, on Aug. 20, 2014. The next day, a pile was found at Snyder Tire along Route 443 in Lehighton.

Over the next two weeks they discovered two additional piles on residential properties in East Penn and Franklin townships.

An additional pile had been dumped in Kline Township near the intersection of Route 309 and Interstate 81.

Two of the property owners admitted that they had taken $300 from MS Recycling drivers in order to accept the construction debris.

According to deputy Attorney General Brian T. Coffey, the dumping began in August 2015 and continued for a period of time. The Department of Environmental Protection cited Stine and his firm with dumping the waste at unapproved sites throughout the area. Stine’s firm lost its permit to dump construction materials at approved landfills in July 2014. It was then, the state charged, that Stine had his drivers dump the material wherever they could.

Some of the cleanup of sites cost the states hundreds of thousands of dollars.

On Monday as part of the plea bargain Stine has one year to clean up two sites, one in Luzerne County and the other in Northampton County.

He was also ordered to pay a restitution of $51,049.17 to the state. However, if he cleans up the two sites within a year then he does not have to pay the restitution.

He was also ordered by Matika to pay court costs, fines totaling $5,000 on the five unlawful act counts and render a total of 200 hours of community service and supply a DNA sample.

If he cleans up the two sites within the year he may also ask for early release from the 10-year probation period, but still must serve at least three years of probation. Matika said, in other words, if he cleans up the two sites in three years he can ask for release from the remaining probation period, but must serve one more year following his request for early release.

Stine said he was sorry for what happened and said, “I’m determined to clean up the two sites in a year. I already started it.”

Defense Attorney Steven R. Mills said his client has relocated to North Carolina where he has started a new firm.

In closing, Matika warned Stine, if he violates any of the terms of the agreement, “You could face substantial jail time.”