Babauta found guilty

A federal jury convicted former Commonwealth Utilities Corp. laboratory manager Pedro Babauta yesterday afternoon on charges that he had tampered with water quality reports to conceal the true microbiological content of the utility firm’s drinking water supply.

But the jury handed down a split decision on the four counts of false document charges against Babauta, declaring the defendant not guilty in the first two counts and guilty in the last two.

The court declared a mistrial regarding the charge of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, with the jury unable to reach a verdict.

The court read the jury’s verdict at about 5:30pm. Babauta’s family members witnessed the event. The former CUC executive is husband to incumbent CUC executive director Lorraine Babauta.

Final arguments on the case ended on June 10, Friday.

Federal prosecutor Timothy Moran refused to comment on the verdict, referring inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Guam.

Babauta’s lawyer, G. Anthony Long, said he was displeased with the verdict.

“We’re disappointed that the jury, after looking at the evidence, returned guilty verdicts on counts four and five. We believe that the evidence showed and established that Pete was not guilty of all the counts in the case,” Long said.

Long said he would exhaust post-trial remedies in efforts to acquit Babauta of any charges.

The jury convicted Babauta on the count that accused the defendant of causing the reduction in the number of positive results in the CUC’s April 17, 2001, submission to the Division of Environmental Quality, the EPA’s local arm.

The other count that the jury found Babauta guilty of accused the former CUC laboratory manager of omitting an entire series of water samples that showed positive results for bacteria from a monthly report to DEQ on March 6, 2003.

In the indictment, federal prosecutors said that CUC’s monthly water sampling report to the DEQ falsely represented that all samples had tested negative from the bacteriological tests on June 4, 1999.

The indictment also alleged that the firm’s submission on Dec. 22, 2000 falsely reduced the number of positive results for total coliform from four to two.

It alleged that Babauta omitted an entire series of samples that showed positive results for bacteria from monthly reports submitted to DEQ on Sept. 4, 2001 and Nov. 14, 2002.

The charges stemmed from investigation conducted by the EPA. The DEQ and its staff assisted in the probe.

Each count of the indictment carries a maximum term of imprisonment of five years, three years of supervised release, and a fine equaling the greater of $250,000 or twice the gain or loss from the offense, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.