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Man wanted, accused of illegally dumping more than 100,000 tires

ATLANTA — A man accused of illegally dumping tires in south Fulton County almost a year ago is now wanted for allegedly dumping 100,000 more tires in metro Atlanta, police said.

And he now finds himself on a most wanted list.

The Clayton County Sheriff’s Office placed Donald Deon Leverette at No. 10 on its list of most wanted fugitives, according to a statement Wednesday. He joins nine people wanted for mostly violent crimes.

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Leverette first became wanted by Union City police as far back as last March, after he allegedly dumped 1,000 tires behind a subdivision, AJC.com reported.

“We will not stop until we hunt you down and make sure that you pay the penalty for what you have caused in this community,” Union City Mayor Vince Williams said at the time.

Clayton officials said Leverette has dumped 100,000 tires in different locations. A spokesman for the state Department of Natural Resources could not say where or when the tires were found since the investigation is ongoing, but said investigators have been working on the case "for many months."

“There are multiple locations in Clayton and other counties where we believe the suspect has dumped tires,” Mark McKinnon told AJC.com. “There also could be additional locations that have not been identified yet.”

The sheriff’s office referred to Leverette as a “serial” tire dumper, and said they obtained two felony warrants for his arrest. That’s on top of the two misdemeanor warrants for the alleged tire dumping in Union City.

Leverette has been known to carry a handgun and should be considered armed and dangerous, the sheriff’s office said.

In October, the DNR said 200,000 tires had been illegally dumped in a wooded area in south Fulton County. Leverette was not publicly linked to that crime.