November 19, 2019
By:
Walter G. Wright
Category:
Arkansas Environmental, Energy, and Water Law
Arkansas Environmental, Energy, and Water Law
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The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training publishes an environmental Case Crimes Bulletin (“Bulletin”) that summarizes publicized investigative activity and adjudicated cases supported by EPA Criminal Investigation Division special agents, forensic specialists, and legal support staff.
A copy of the August – September edition has been published.
The August-September Bulletin lists the follow matters:
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Region
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Defendants
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Case Type/Status
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1
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Aleks Rakaj
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Sentencing/Sentenced to one year of probation and a $9,500 fine for allegedly illegally removing asbestos at a New Haven property
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2
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Tower & Son Exterminating Corp.
Wilson Javier Torres-Rivera
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Indictment/Eight-count indictment for allegedly knowingly applying restricted-use pesticide Meth-O-Gas Q, containing methyl bromide, at eight locations for the purpose of exterminating household pests, a use not in accordance with its registration and labeling
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2
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Ionian Shipping and trading Corp, Lily Shipping Ltd, Stamatios Alekidis,
Athanasios Pittas, Rey Espulgar
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Sentencing/Sentenced for various alleged crimes of pollution, recordkeeping, and obstruction of justice on the Motor Tanker Ocean Princess in St. Croix, U.S.V.I.
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3
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Brian Mellott
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Plea Agreement/Pled guilty to alleged conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act related to a scheme to defraud the Environmental Protection Agency
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3
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Andrew Manganas
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Sentencing/Sentenced to 46 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for alleged theft from union plans, wire fraud, and discharge of pollutants into the Susquehanna River
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3
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Timothy Peer
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Sentencing/Sentenced to five years of probation and fined $24,000 for allegedly violating permits and discharging untreated sewage from his sewage treatment plant
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4
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Jaron Coleman
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Plea Agreement/Pled guilty to one count of alleged Unauthorized Discharge of Oil in the Waters of the United States
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5
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Emanuele Palma (Fiat)
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Indictment/Charged for alleged role in an alleged conspiracy to mislead U.S. regulators, customers and the public by making false and misleading statements about the emissions control software used in more than 100,000 FCA diesel vehicles in order to increase the vehicles’ emissions when they were not running on federal emissions test cycles
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5
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Lloyd Robl
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Sentencing/Sentenced to 12 years in prison and three years of supervised release for alleged wire fraud and a Clean Air Act violation
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5
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Anthony Gray
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Indictment/Indicted in federal court on one count of alleged conspiracy to defraud the United States for violations related to improperly operating an incinerator
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5
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Kenneth Morrison
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Sentencing/Sentenced to 24 months in prison, two years unsupervised release, and ordered to pay over $54,000 in restitution to the City of Hammond for alleged interstate transportation of stolen property
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7
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Arthur Wolfe
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Plea Agreement/Pled guilty to allegedly falsifying a report on the quality of Garden Plain, Kansas’ drinking water
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8
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C&J Well Services
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Sentencing/Sentenced in federal court on charges related to the death of an oilfield worker
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8
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Peter Margiotta (Custom Carbon Processing, Inc.)
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Trial/Convicted of multiple alleged violations of the federal Clean Air Act after a 2012 explosion at the company’s oil processing plant in Wibaux injured three employees and caused extensive damage to the plant
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9
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Santa Clara Waste Water Company
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Sentencing/Sentenced for alleged role in explosion at 815 Mission Rock Road in Santa Paula that injured numerous employees and first responders, and for subsequent storage of undisclosed hazardous chemicals on site uncovered by policy in 2015
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9
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Bobby Babak Khalili
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Indictment/Indicted for alleged violations of the Clean Air Act by failing to remediate and remove asbestos from a downtown Las Vegas apartment complex before renovating it, endangering the health and welfare of the tenants living there at the time
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10
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Robert La Rue Webb
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Plea Agreement/Pled guilty in federal court for allegedly violating the Clean Water Act by negligently discharging harmful quantities of oil into the Willamette River in Portland
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A copy of the Bulletin can be found here.
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