The Douglas County Sheriff's Office is investigating a report of a "shopping cart size" load of used intravenous bags, needles and dirty bandages found in a trash bin for lumber at The Home Depot.
The discovery was made by an employee who said he jumped into the large lumber waste bin to compact the contents and landed in what he described as "hospital waste."
He told deputies he was "reviled" by the discovery and enlisted other employees to remove the waste that filled a shopping cart.
After deputies investigated the incident, the store hired a private hazardous waste company to dispose of the items.
The waste included several used intravenous bags that contained small amounts of fluid and blood, injector plungers, prescription medicine bottles, medical paper work and several bandages soiled with bodily fluids and blood, according to reports.
Officials contacted the person identified on the bottles and paper work.
He said he was receiving hospital supplies at his home for a foot injury and usually disposed of the waste at his business.
On this occasion, he said he left the waste in the back of his pickup truck which he had loaned to an unidentified friend who apparently dumped the items at The Home Depot.
He refused to identify the truck driver, but said he would take responsibility for the waste.
According to the sheriff's report, the store asked that criminal charges be filed for illegal dumping.
The case was referred to the District Attorney's Office.
n A $20,000 Bobcat mini-excavator was reported missing from a job site at David Hot Springs & Resorts.
A Reno electric company used the excavator until its battery died in the installation of a radio tower.
The equipment was parked on a flatbed truck waiting to be hauled away at the end of the job.
An employee showed up at the site at 3 p.m. Monday and found the machinery was missing.
He theorized that the thief put a battery in the excavator and drove it away.
