WOODVILLE – A series of advertisements, published in the TylerCountyBooster, along with the quarterly East Texan lifestyle magazine, were presented as evidence in the State of Texas v. Richard Kollin.
Tyler County Judge Milton Powers presided over the case, which took place two weeks ago, and a jury wound up assessing punishment of $4,000 for each case, after Kollin, 60, was convicted. Including court costs, Kollin’s fines totaled $8,540.
Kollin, the owner of Space City Septic, had been revealed to not be licensed to perform installs and “complete septic systems,” as he had claimed in his advertising.
Tyler County’s Assistant DA Brooke Montalbano presented the advertisements as evidence, and the placements, which date back to April 2022, made claims for which Kollin was not licensed to perform.
Evidence also was presented that Kollin had admitted on numerous occasions to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) that he was aware he needed a license to perform the types of work he’d advertised. In 2023, Kollin pleaded No Contest to two Class C citations for failing to obtain an occupational license, as well as a Class C violation for altering/repairing on-site sewage disposal.
Kollin had never been licensed in the state of Texas, but had applied for an installer license through TCEQ after charges were levied upon him, which TCEQ denied last August, records showed.
Employees of the Tyler County Booster were called to testify, and showed that Kollin refused to pay for advertising he’d taken out, which resulted in a default judgment of $1,535.
Investigators with TCEQ, Kimberly Huch and Byron Easly, also testified, and stated that Kollin had been cited repeatedly for installing illegal drain fields and “performing poor quality, or unnecessary, work.”
