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Posted on Jul 27 2005
Two convicted of illegal asbestos removal in Virgin Islands
On June 30, Cleve Allen George of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Dylan C. Starnes of Atlanta, Ga., were each convicted by a jury in U.S. District Court for the District of the Virgin Islands in St. Thomas of violating the Clean Air Act by illegally removing asbestos and filing false air monitoring reports to the Virgin Islands Housing Authority and the Occupational Health and Safety Administration.
In January and February 2001, the defendants conducted a demolition at the Donoe Housing Community in the Virgin Islands. During this demolition, they violated federal asbestos workplace standards by using a power washer to strip thousands of square feet of asbestos-containing material from ceilings. The asbestos material then washed out over the ground and into sewers.
Improperly removing such material can cause asbestos fibers to become airborne, and inhaling airborne asbestos is a cause of lung cancer, a lung disease known as “asbestosis” and mesothelioma, a cancer of the chest and abdominal cavities.
2 firms, 2 persons plead guilty in false certificate case
In a case brought before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Norfolk, Va., during the week of June 30, ACS Environmental, Inc., of Norfolk, Va.; Air Power Enterprises, Inc., of Portsmouth, Va.; each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to make false statements and to submitting false statements to the Small Business Administration.
In addition, James Schau-bach, president of ACS and vice-president of Air Power; and Nicanor Lotuaco, president of Air Power, each pleaded guilty to making false statements to the SBA.
The defendants purchased false asbestos and lead abatement training certificates for employees of ACS and Air Power from F&M Environmental Technologies, Inc. F&M was convicted of selling false certificates in 2001.
The certificates, which claimed employees had training they did not have, were used to obtain federal program minority set-aside contracts.
From 1999-2004, Air Power received $37 million worth of these contracts for abatement activities and sub-contracted the work to ACS.
