Wohl Charged in Dumping Incident

By Waldo Jaquith
At a press conference this afternoon, a spokeswoman for Cook County announced that they have filed criminal charges against Stefan Wohl, the Dave Matthews Band tour bus driver accused of dumping urine and disinfecting fluid from a DMB tour bus' waste tank and onto tour boat passengers in the Chicago River in early August. This is in addition to the $70,000 civil suit that was filed against against the band and Wohl by the Illinois Attorney General. Wohl is charged with two misdemeanor counts: reckless conduct and discharging contaminates to cause water pollution. If found guilty, it could result in a year in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. He has turned himself into police, and was promptly released on a bond of $1,000. Dave Matthews Band has been defensive of Wohl, saying that he says he's innocent, and they believe him, but have issued a preliminary apology, promised to take full blame if Wohl is convicted, and have provided $100,000 to Chicago environmental charities. Thanks to Matt Casey for the news.