Garbage collector jailed for working too early

ATLANTA, GA (KTRK) -- A sanitation worker in an Atlanta suburb is behind bars for getting to work too early.

Kevin McGill was sentenced to 30 days in jail for violating a Sandy Springs ordinance that says workers can only haul trash between the hours of 7am and 7pm.

McGill was cited for picking up the trash just after 5am one morning.

He says he could not believe when the prosecutor asked the judge for the maximum punishment.

"I was stunned. I didn't know what to think. I was shocked," McGill told ABC affiliate WSB-TV.

The prosecutor, Bill Riley, makes no apologies for locking sanitation workers up.

"Fines don't seem to work," Riley said. "The only thing that seems to stop the activity is actually going to jail."

Riley says garbage workers who pick up the trash too early are a nuisance to sleeping residents.

McGill had only been on the job for three months. He says it's hard now having to serve time with real criminals.

"I just want this to be over with," he said. "I'm away from my family, my wife, and she's got to take care of the two little boys and I have four dogs."

McGill will spend the next 14 weekends in jail. The judge is letting him out during the workweek so McGill can continue working, but only during the appropriate hours.