FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ENR
THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 1999
(202) 616-2771
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
TDD (202) 514-1888

THREE MEN SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR PARTICIPATING IN A CONSPIRACY

TO USE HOMELESS MEN FOR ILLEGAL ASBESTOS REMOVAL

MADISON, WI -- A federal judge in Madison, Wisconsin today sentenced three men to prison for their part in a conspiracy to recruit untrained laborers from a Tennessee soup kitchen, transport them to an aging Wisconsin manufacturing plant, and direct them to remove hazardous asbestos, in violation of environmental and health regulations.

United States District Judge Barbara B. Crabb sentenced Buddy Vernon Frazier, age 35, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, to 30 months in prison, Chance Calvin Gaines, age 25, of Arab, Alabama, to 33 months in prison, and James Edward Bragg, age 24, of Chattanooga, to 24 months in prison.

"While we strongly encourage employers to provide meaningful job opportunities to persons who need employment most," said Peggy Lautenschlager, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, "hiring men from soup kitchens to perform hazardous work in violation of health and environmental regulations is exploitation and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

"The defendants exploited vulnerable people in our society to the detriment of our environment and just to make a profit," said Lois J. Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General for Environment and Natural Resources. "There is no excuse for such behavior. The defendants will pay a heavy price for breaking the laws designed to protect public health, safety and the environment. We hope others will be deterred from such conduct."

Last October, the three men pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate federal environmental laws in connection with the removal of nearly 9,000 linear feet of asbestos laden pipe insulation from the former Weyerhaeuser Door & Stile Building in Marshfield, Wisconsin. As part of their plea, the men admitted that they knowingly violated Clean Air Act (CAA) regulations governing the removal of asbestos, and fraudulently used social security account numbers to obtain the required asbestos worker cards for untrained workers that they recruited.

Prior to the defendants pleading guilty, Attorney General Janet Reno, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Carol Browner, along with Executive Director of the National Coalition for the Homeless Mary Ann Gleason, held a press conference last April to announce the indictment of these three men. During the joint press conference, Attorney General Reno, Administrator Browner, and Executive Director Gleason called attention to similar cases prosecuted around the country in which homeless people, transient workers, and other vulnerable people were offered jobs removing asbestos without receiving the required training or other required safeguards. In addition, the National Coalition for the Homeless announced that it would distribute an advisory, developed by the Department of Justice and the EPA, to homeless-care providers around the country. The advisory warns about the dangers of asbestos in building materials and cautions workers to be on guard for employers who offer work tearing out old asbestos materials without providing workers with adequate notice, equipment, or training.

"The public will not tolerate the illegal actions of individuals who deliberately expose people to industrial pollution," said Steve A. Herman, EPA Assistant Director for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. "This case demonstrates our resolve to take action against those who go to extraordinary lengths to circumvent the law."

Asbestos is designated by the CAA as a hazardous air pollutant. Studies have shown that exposure to asbestos can cause life-threatening diseases, including asbestosis, cancer, and mesothelioma.

To prevent the release of asbestos fibers into the environment, the CAA requires workers to carefully remove asbestos-containing building materials from demolition and renovation sites before demolition or renovation activities occur. Among other things, workers must wet asbestos insulation before stripping the material from pipes, and must seal the asbestos debris in leak-tight containers while still wet, to prevent the emission of asbestos dust.

Wisconsin law further requires all asbestos workers to be trained in these and other applicable rules and to carry identification cards indicating that they have received such training.

At the sentencing, the government presented evidence that the three defendants brought more than 20 men to Marshfield, WI, to work on the asbestos removal, including about 12 men recruited from the Community Kitchen in Chattanooga, TN, a provider of services for the homeless. Nearly all of these men had no training in asbestos work. In order to obtain fraudulent asbestos identification cards for the untrained workers, the three defendants provided the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS) training certificates and social security numbers belonging to other individuals.

The government also presented evidence that, at the work site, the defendants directed the workers to remove asbestos without using water and without using proper techniques to contain asbestos debris, thereby causing airborne emissions of asbestos fibers and releases of bulk asbestos materials.

This case was investigated by EPA's Criminal Investigations Division and the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General, with assistance from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services. This case was prosecuted jointly by Assistant United States Attorney John W. Vaudreuil of the United States Attorney's Office and John L. Smeltzer of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division's Environmental Crimes Section.

While the legal case against these individuals has been completed, the Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency are continuing their efforts to crackdown on the use of homeless people and other vulnerable individuals to perform illegal asbestos abatement. Anyone with information regarding this problem is encouraged to call EPA's hotline at 1-800-368-5888.

# # #

99-032