FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 22, 2007
WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/MA
CONTACT: CHRISTINA DiIORIO-STERLING
PHONE: (617)748-3356
E-MAIL: USAMA.MEDIA@USDOJ.GOV
OWNER OF STATE’S LARGEST ASBESTOS TRAINING SCHOOL INDICTED
BOSTON, MA - The owner of the state’s largest asbestos training school, along with one of her office employees, was charged today in federal court with falsely reporting to the state that it had trained dozens of individuals to conduct asbestos removal work when they in fact had not been trained, knowing that the individuals likely would work in asbestos removal without the requisite training.
United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Michael Hubbard, Special Agent in Charge of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division; Bruce M. Foucart, Special Agent in Charge of Immigration Customs and Enforcement - New England Field Office; Douglas A. Bricker, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation - Boston Field Office; Jeff Paula, Special Agent in Charge of the Office of Inspector General, U.S. Social Security Administration, Office of Investigations - Boston Field Division; James P. Ennis, U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service; and Anthony DiPaolo, Chief of Investigations for the Insurance Fraud Bureau; announced today that ALBANIA DELEON, age 38, of 1 Sillen Dreive, Salem, New Hampshire, and JOSE FRANCISCO GARCIA-GARCIA, age 47, of 350 Lawrence Avenue, Lawrence, Massachusetts, were charged in an Indictment with one count of making a false statement within the jurisdiction of a government agency, namely the EPA.
The Indictment alleges that from approximately 2001 to 2006, DELEON owned and operated Environmental Compliance Training (“ECT”), a certified asbestos training school located at 2 Charles Street in Methuen, Massachusetts. Under federal and state law, in order to work in the asbestos abatement industry, an individual must complete a 32-hour introductory training course. ECT offered these introductory training courses on a weekly basis at its Methuen offices. Upon completion of the course, the participants received a certificate indicating successful completion of the course requirements. However, many recipients of the ECT certificates never took the required course. Instead, with DELEON’S knowledge and approval, ECT’s office employees, including GARCIA, issued certificates of course completion to numerous individuals who did not take the course. These individuals filed the certificates with the Massachusetts Division of Occupational Safety (“DOS”) in order to obtain authorization to work in the asbestos removal industry.
According to the Indictment, because ECT’s training course records were subject to inspection, DELEON sought to cover up ECT’s practice of issuing certificates to untrained applicants by having the applicants sign final examination answer sheets that already had been completed and graded, which were maintained in ECT’s files. Many of the untrained certificate recipients were directed to work for Methuen Staffing, DELEON’S temporary services company that specialized in asbestos removal.
If convicted on these charges, DELEON and GARCIA face up to five years imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
The case was investigated by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division; Immigration Customs and Enforcement - New England Field Office; U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation - Boston Field Office; U.S. Social Security Administration, Office of Investigations - Boston Field Division; U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service; and the Massachusetts Insurance Fraud Bureau. The government was assisted in the investigation with information provided by the Massachusetts Division of Occupational Safety. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan F. Mitchell of Sullivan’s Economic Crimes Unit and Special Assistant United States Attorney Peter W. Kenyon, a EPA senior enforcement attorney.
The details contained in the indictment are allegations. The defendants are presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.