EPA Jan. 8 Enforcement Wrap-Up 1/8/2004
From: Suzanne Ackerman of the EPA, 202-564-7819 e-mail: ackerman.suzanne@epa.gov; web: http://www.epa.gov/newsroom WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 -- Following is the Enforcement Wrap-Up from the Environmental Protection Agency: Virginia Company and Two Officials Sentenced for Using False Asbestos Training Certificates to Obtain Asbestos-removal Contracts Environmental Testing and Monitoring Services Inc. (ETMS), of Virginia Beach, Va., and two ETMS managers, Fred Guest, President, and Scott Eggleston, Vice-President; were sentenced on Dec. 19 for obtaining asbestos removal contracts without the legally required training. ETMS will pay a $40,000 fine and serve four years supervised probation. Guest and Eggleston will each serve six months home confinement and pay a $25,000 fine. In addition, Guest will serve four years supervised probation and Eggleston will be on probation for two years. In September, the defendants pled guilty to making false statements concerning purchase of falsified asbestos training certificates. These certificates were purchased from F&M Environmental Technologies Inc., which pled guilty in 2001 to selling false asbestos training certificates. The defendants used the illegal certificates to obtain contracts for asbestos project monitoring inspections, management planning and industrial hygiene services at the Langley Air Force Base and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., as well as at other facilities in the Virginia area. Proper training is required to monitor asbestos projects to prevent human exposure to airborne asbestos fibers. Inhaling airborne asbestos fibers is a cause of lung cancer, the lung disease "asbestosis", and mesothelioma, a cancer of the chest and abdominal cavities. The case was investigated by the Washington, D.C. Area Office of EPA's Criminal Investigation Division, the FBI, the NASA's Office of Inspector General, the Defense Criminal Investigative Services, the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, the Defense Contract Audit Office and the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Alexandria and the Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. --- Alabama Man Pleads Guilty to 28 Counts in Pesticide Case William C. Murphy of Glencoe, Ala., pled guilty on Jan. 5 to 17 counts of violating the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act and 11 counts of trafficking in counterfeit goods. Operating under the company name of Sierra Chemical, the defendant sold counterfeit, misbranded, adulterated and/or mislabeled pesticides to numerous municipalities in Alabama and Georgia. The municipalities used them to control mosquitos and the spread of the West Nile Virus. Selling altered, counterfeit or improperly branded or labeled pesticides to cities to control mosquitoes and other insects can present a significant public health and environmental risk, either through contamination due to the unregulated application of potentially harmful chemicals, or by failing to protect the public from the diseases carried by the insects, such as West Nile Virus. The case was investigated by the Jacksonville and Atlanta Area Offices of EPA's Criminal Investigation Division, the FBI the EPA Office of Inspector General, the EPA Region 4 Pesticide and Toxics Division and the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industry. It is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Alabama and the Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice. | |