Detroit carpet cleaner caught dumping near urban farm

DETROIT (WJBK) - A suburban business owner was busted doing his dirty work in Detroit. His job is to clean carpets, but a FOX 2 viewer caught him making a nasty mess, dumping some sort of liquid on the edge of an urban farm.

The urban farm is six acres of crops on Detroit's north end taken care of by teens proud of their community. More than 5,000 visit the farm each year to see how it's done -- peas, blueberries, pears, strawberries, collards, kale - all the good stuff.

Jerry Hebron started the Oakland Avenue urban farm 10 years ago near Oakland and I-75 and she's pretty proud of the work they do there. So she was not at all happy two days ago when she says a man from Mystic Touch Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning in Macomb County showed up on Cameron Street at the edge of the farm and used the street to dispose of his wastewater.

Jerry says the liquid smelled like sewage. She and another farmer confronted the man from Mystic Touch -- he said it wasn't illegal to do.

"He said there's nothing wrong with this - nobody cares. This area is a dump - well, it's not a dump. ... It's a farm, but it's a community. People live here," she said.

People who won't put up with this kind of behavior. Jerry says she called the mayor's office, blight enforcement and the she took her message to social media. She posted her story and photos on Facebook. Soon she and others were posting on the Mystic Touch Yelp page.

FOX 2 tried to track down the person responsible - but he didn't want to talk to us.

Detroit police tell us they will investigate. Jerry and her collegues just hope Mystic Touch and any others who want to dump in Detroit or anywhere else reconsider.

"We don't appreciate it - we don't appreciate anyone coming in here dumping and leaving trash behind," said North end resident Constance King.