Detroit man who shames illegal dumpers on social media sees latest video get deleted

Pommerville helps keep Brightmoor Neighborhood clean

DETROITJonathan Pommerville has spent years publicly shaming illegal dumpers on Facebook but now he’s going to have to find a new tactic to curb illegal dumping.

Facebook deleted one of his more recent videos and said that he was violating Facebook’s policy. Pommerville has done a lot to clean up the Brightmoor Neighborhood -- but he’s also caused controversy.

Read: Camera crusader fights illegal dumping in Detroit neighborhood

Pommerville uses social media to track down people to clean up the messes they leave behind. In a recent post he made, photos of the trash included a label that had someone’s name, number and address on it. That violates a Facebook policy for privacy.

“I am in Facebook jail because of that post,” Pommerville said.

Pommerville said the law is on his side.

“As soon as your information is dumped on the street it becomes public information at that point,” he said.

When Pommerville finds a name or number in an illegal dump he posts it, calls the person -- but doesn’t accuse them of being the dumpers.

Read: More Defenders coverage


About the Authors

Local 4 Defender Shawn Ley is an Emmy award-winning journalist who has been with Local 4 News for more than a decade.

Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer.

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