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DEQ lab manager testifies vs ex-CUC lab manager
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Posted on Jun 07 2005
The trial proper on the criminal charges against former Commonwealth Utilities Corp. laboratory manager Pedro Q. Babauta began yesterday at the U.S. District Court.
Federal prosecutors started by presenting the testimony of Division of Environmental Quality’s laboratory manager, Clarissa Tanaka Bearden.
The proceedings were adjourned in the afternoon and would continue this morning with Bearden’s testimony.
Babauta, the husband of incumbent CUC executive director Lorraine Babauta, faces criminal charges for allegedly tampering with drinking water sampling results to conceal the microbiological content in the firm’s water supply.
The charges lodged against the former laboratory manager include conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and four counts of false documents.
The laboratory manager retired from the government sometime in 2003 after the DEQ slapped the CUC with citations over various violations of drinking water regulations, including the alleged tampering of water sampling results.
An indictment filed against Babauta in federal court last year alleged that the former laboratory manager conspired with other persons to conceal the true microbiological content of CUC’s public water system on different occasions over a four-year period.
