Garbage collector jailed for working too early

ATLANTA, Ga. (WPVI) -- 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," he said.

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

"Fines don't seem to work," Riley said.

He says they are a nuisance to sleeping residents.

McGill had only been on the job for three months.

Now he has to spend the next 14 weekends in jail, while he works during the week... after 7am.