Liberty County man faces up to 77 years in prison over tire dump

LUDOWICI - A Riceboro man faces up to 77 years in prison and $1.4 million in fines after pleading guilty to operating an illegal tire dump with more than 1 million scrap tires. <br> <br> Rodger Boykin, 48, is scheduled for sentencing May 28. <br> <br> Boykin pleaded guilty in Long County Superior Court last week to 28 felony counts for collecting and storing what authorities said was more than 1.2 million tires at two separate sites in Liberty and Long counties. <br> <br> Lee Ann deGrazia, with the Environmental Protection Division, described the tire pile in Liberty County as taller than a two-story building that covered several acres. <br> <br> Boykin said he doesn&#39;t believe he should have been prosecuted and pleaded guilty only because of his lawyer&#39;s advice. <br> <br> ``Why single me out of everybody in the state?&#39;&#39; he asked. ``I never burned them, I never buried them, I never cut them or threw them in the river.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The tires were taken to scrap-tire processors for shredding. The site cost more than $585,000 to clean up, deGrazia said. <br> <br> Prosecutors said Boykin got a scrap-tire processing permit in Liberty County in 1995. He received his first complaint the next year and had his license revoked in Liberty County in 1998.