Enforcement

Criminal Press Releases - 2017

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OCEFT Seal This is a list of press releases announcing results of EPA criminal cases adjudicated in U.S. courts. The tables are sortable and can be viewed by date or alphabetically under all other headings.

Month/Day	Defendant	State	Violation	Related Media	Case Status	Press Release
12/6	Oliver Schmidt (Volkswagen)	MI	Conspiracy to: defraud the United States, commit wire fraud, and violate the Clean Air Act Violation of the Clean Air Act	CAA Title 18	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
11/27	Jason A. Halek Nathan R. Garber	TX	Safe Drinking Water Act Violations, Conspiracy to violate the SDWA and defraud the United States, making false statements, falsification of records, and concealment of a tangible object.	SDWA Title 18	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
11/20	Terminix LP Terminix USVI	VI	Illegally applying fumigants containing methyl bromide in multiple residential locations (causing serious injury and hospitalization)	FIFRA	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
11/15	Guido A. Cortes-Rodriguez	CT	Falsely certifying the completion of asbestos abatement courses	CAA	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
11/1	Sean P. Doctor	NY	Making a False Statement - falsified waste manifest when shipping asbestos	CAA	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
10/12	Lance A. Charen	DE	Tampering with Clean Water Act monitoring methods and transporting hazardous waste without a hazardous waste manifest	CWA RCRA	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
10/12	Kenneth Johns	TX	Conspiracy to obstruct justice, making false documents, and making false statements - in connection with explosion on oil platform in Gulf of Mexico	Title 18	Indictment	DOJ Press Release
9/27	Tyson Poultry	MO	Improper waste disposal from spill, resulting in large-scale fish kill	CWA	Plea Agreement	DOJ Press Release
9/21	William S. Jackson	OH	Illegal demolition - failure to remove asbestos prior to demolishing a factory near homes and a school	TSCA	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
9/20	Luminaire Environmental and Technologies, Inc. John D. Miller Jr. Joseph V. Miller	MN	Fraudulently selling PCB ballasts to metal scrap yards	TSCA	Indictment	DOJ Press Release
9/11	Sean Gerson	CA	Sale of an unregistered pesticide - connected with selling mis-branded veterinary medications without a prescription	FIFRA	Plea Agreement	DOJ Press Release
9/7	Maureen S. Walck	NY	Failure to provide lead paint warning notice - resulting in child lead poisoning	TSCA	Plea Agreement	DOJ Press Release
9/7	Michael J. Ward	NY	Clean Water Act Violation - discharging wastewater containing excessive levels of biochemical oxygen demand (“BOD”) into the Raquette River	CWA	Plea Agreement	DOJ Press Release
9/5	Adam D. Boylen	OH	Clean Water Act Violations - Dumping wastewater into tributaries of the Tuscarawas River	CWA	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
8/31	Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations LLC	TX	Clean Water Act Violation and 8 violations of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) - for negligence, causing explosions which resulted in the deaths of 3 workers and serious injuries to other workers	CWA OCSLA	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
8/30	Randy Less	IA	Clean Water Act Violation - Discharging ethanol into a tributary of the Maquoketa River	CWA	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
8/25	James Robert Liang	MI	Conspiracy to defraud the U.S., wire fraud, Clean Air Act violation (in connection with Volkswagen (VW))	CAA, Title 18	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
8/16	AIREKO Construction Company	PR	Clean Air Act Violation - Asbestos	CAA	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
8/15	James Kenneth Ward	MT	Illegal disposal of radioactive waste	Title 18	Fugitive Listing	FUGITIVE NOTICE EPA Press Release
8/4	Oliver Schmidt	MI	Conspiracy to defraud the U.S., wire fraud, Clean Air Act violation (in connection with Volkswagen (VW))	CAA, Title 18	Plea Agreement	DOJ Press Release
8/2	Andre Bernard	NY	RINs fraud (in connection with Gen-X and Southern Resources and Commodities (SRC))	Title 18	Plea Agreement	DOJ Press Release
6/20	Mahmoud Alkabbani	CA	Attempting to illegally purchase HCFC-22, a refrigerant gas and class II ozone-depleting substance	CAA	Indictment	DOJ Press Release
6/13	Roberson Excavation, Inc.	FL	Wire fraud - in connection with falsifying water samples during the installation of new water lines	Title 18	Plea Agreement	DOJ Press Release
6/13	Russell P. Stewart	OH	Improper asbestos demolition and failure to timely dispose of asbestos waste	CAA	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
6/13	Charles Edward Bayer Darren Kattan	NY	Conspiring to commit mail fraud and violate the Clean Air Act by developing and selling simulator devices programmed to bypass vehicle emissions tests	Title 18, CAA	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
6/9	Scott Paterson	MA	Tampering with a Continuous Emissions Monitoring System (Berkshire Power Plant)	CAA	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
6/6	Michael Wagner	LA	Attempted theft by means of fraudulent conduct - related to selling a highly flammable propane gas/isobutene mixture as a refrigerant	STATE	Sentencing	DOT Press Release
6/1	Crowell Farms, Inc. Michael Alexander Crowell	NC	Discharging cow feces into French Broad River	CWA	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
6/1	Scott Johnson	WA	Conspiracy to defraud the government, conspiracy to commit wire fraud (in connection with Gen-X)	Title 18	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
5/31	Fred Baker	MA	Tampering with a Continuous Emissions Monitoring System (Berkshire Power Plant)	CAA	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
5/15	Sean Doctor SD Specialty Services, LLC Raj Chopra CEM (Environmental Consulting)	NY	Making false statements (falsifying waste manifests for transportation of asbestos-containing debris)	CAA	Plea Agreement	DOJ Press Release
5/11	Brian Dale Fleming BF Byproducts, LLC	MO	Dumping grease into the Big Piney River	CWA	Indictment	DOJ Press Release
5/4	Ben Wooton Race Miner Keystone Biofuels, Inc.	PA	Conspiracy and false statements related to biofuels fraud (RINs fraud)	Title 18	Indictment	DOJ Press Release
4/24	Starlite Reclamation Environmental Services Inc., Christopher Jaramillo Robert Conn Andrew Hucks Fernando Torres	TX	Illegal discharges of acidic industrial wastewater into a sewer system Tampering with monitoring devices	CWA	Indictment	DOJ Press Release
4/12	Jason Halek	ND	Clean Water Act violations related to operation of an injection well	CWA	Plea Agreement	DOJ Press Release
3/23	Berkshire Power Plant Co, Powerplant Management Services Inc.	MA	Tampering with air pollution emissions equipmnent Submimtting false information to both environmental and energy regulators	CAA	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
3/21	Andres Pichardo	MA	Illegally dumping hazardous waste oil into drain which discharges into Merrimack River	CWA	Indictment	MassDep Press Release
2/23	Wood Group, PSN Inc	LA	False reporting related to safety inspections (leading to an explosion in the Gulf of Mexico) Negligently discharging Oil into the Gulf of Mexico	CWA	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
2/21	Andres Pichardo	MA	Disposing of hazardous waste in a manner endangering the environment and without a license from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP)(Illegally dumping over a thousand gallons of hazardous waste oil down a drain that could discharge into the Merrimack River)	Waste	Indictment	AG Press Release
2/17	AK Scientific Peiwen Zhou	CA	TSCA violations (Failing to complete required import certifications; failing to properly label packages containing hazardous materials) Hazardous Materials Transportation Act violation (Transporting hazardous materials without labeling the packages as required by the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (HMTA) Conspiracy to Defraud the United States (Mislabeling contents of containers)	TSCA, HMTA, Title 18	Indictment	DOJ Press Release
2/17	Darin Lewis Billy Ray Roberson	FL	Wire Fraud (in connection with falsifying water samples during the testing of new water lines)	Title 18	Plea Agreement	DOJ Press Release
2/14	Adam Boylen	OH	Clean Water Act violations (dumping wastewater into tributaries of the Tuscarawas River)	CWA	Indictment	DOJ Press Release
2/3	Kenneth Gravitt (Global Environmental Services)	KY	Illegal Storage, transporation and disposal of hazardous waste (electronic waste)	RCRA	Indictment	DOJ Press Release
2/2	International Petroleum Corporation	DE	Clean Water Act violation (tampering with monitoring methods and monitoring device) RCRA violation (transporting hazardous waste without a hazardous waste manifest)	CWA, RCRA	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
1/31	Richard Estes	WA	Conspiracy to commit money laundering (in connection with renewable energy tax credit fraud)	CAA, Title 18	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
1/24	Omega Protein, Inc.	LA	Unlawful discharge of a pollutant ino U.S. waters (drained polluted water into a canal leading to Vermilion River	CWA	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release
1/18	John Brewer	WV	Falsifying water sampling data for coal mining operations	CWA	Sentencing	DOJ Press Release