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Press Release

Former Freedom Industries executives plead guilty to environmental crimes

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of West Virginia

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – William E. Tis and Charles E. Herzing, former owners, officers, and directors of Freedom Industries, Inc., pleaded guilty in federal court in Charleston today to an environmental crime in connection with the January 2014 Elk River chemical spill, U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin announced. Both men pleaded guilty to causing the unlawful discharge of MCHM into the Elk River without a permit. Sentencing is set for June 22, 2015.

The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Environmental Protection Agency – Criminal Investigation Division.

Tis and Herzing’s plea agreements, which include stipulations of facts in which they admit their criminal conduct, are linked below.

Updated February 4, 2016