WILDWOOD CREST — Sanitation Supervisor Michael Toland didn’t waste any time firing a sanitation worker who was caught making a mess he was supposed to clean up.

During a routine morning trash run on Aug. 15, security cameras at the Aqua Beach Resort captured images of a Wildwood Crest sanitation worker dumping a bucket of discarded oil and grease on the resort’s walls, dumpsters and surrounding trash pick-up area.

“It is almost like there was graffiti on the wall,” said the resort’s owner Mike DiAntonio

Mark Myland, Aqua Beach’s operations manager, saw the mess after the borough’s sanitation crew had left. He was told by his head maintenance man that the hotel staff had properly left the kitchen grease, from the resort’s restaurant, for sanitation workers to pick up.

Myland went to the resort’s security cameras, one of which points directly at the dumpsters, for answers. The security tape showed the sanitation worker throwing grease around the area, instead of disposing of it properly.

“It definitely did not look like a mistake,” Myland said.

DiAntonio said to his knowledge, he doesn’t think the sanitation worker was taking any particular vendetta against the resort and wondered why someone would go through the trouble of creating a senseless mess.

“I don’t get it,” said DiAntonio. “This is something that was intentional, like something a vandal would do.”

DiAntonio praised his maintenance staff as “one of the best” and noted he had invested a lot of money on new equipment, such as dumpsters, and keeping the property as clean as possible.

“We’re up to our eyeballs with work here as it is,” said DiAntonio. “And now we have to add to it with this.”

After viewing the tape, Toland said the mess at the resort was cleaned and the employee responsible was “dismissed” at 11:30 a.m. the same day. Toland did not want to disclose the name of the dismissed employee or comment on any further disciplinary action.

Myland said he was happy to have the area cleaned up quickly so he could return to business as usual.

Contact Suit at: (609) 886-8600 ext. 25 or lsuit@cmcherald.com