Polk County officials warn illegal garbage dumpers could face jailtime Ken Suarez reports LAKELAND, Fla. - Polk County just got hit with the third major illegal dumping incident in the last month or so. The latest incident happened at Lake Parker in Lakeland over the long Fourth of July weekend. A woman who lives nearby came down to the lake to check out the wildlife. Instead, what she saw was stomach-churning. "It was like, ‘Wow!'" said Sharon Bauman. "We couldn’t believe what we were seeing." There were four dozen old tires just floating around. So she posted photos of it on social media and Lakeland police have launched an investigation.