DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
GRETCHEN C.F. SHAPPERT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2008

CONTACT: SUELLEN PIERCE
704.338.3120
FAX 704.227.0264

WASTE WATER TREATMENT PLANT OPERATOR INDICTED FOR FELONY CLEAN WATER ACT VIOLATIONS CHARLOTTE, NC - A federal grand jury sitting in Charlotte has indicted Kirby Dean Case, 52, of Lowell, NC, the operator of the waste water treatment plant for the Town of Dallas, North Carolina, for felony violations of the federal Clean Water Act. The bill of indictment alleges that Kirby Case violated the Act between July 2007 and December 12, 2007, by discharging pollutants from the Town of Dallas Waste Water Treatment Plant into the Dallas Branch of the Catawba River Basin. The indictment also alleges that Case knowingly made false material statements in documents required to be filed or maintained under the Clean Water Act, or aided and abetted such false statements, by causing to be filed with the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources certain reports that included falsified levels of chlorine, ammonia, fecal coliform, and other materials in samples taken from the Town of Dallas Waste Water Treatment Plant for testing.

The investigation was conducted by Special Agent Kevin LaPointe of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division and Special Agent David Whitley of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution is being handled for the government by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven R. Kaufman. If convicted, Case faces maximum statutory penalties of no more than three years imprisonment and a fine of no less than $5,000 and no more than $50,000 per day of violation on Count One, and no more than two years imprisonment and a fine of no more than $10,000, or both, on Count Two.

The charges contained in the indictment are only allegations. In the American justice system, a person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty in a court of law.

Additional information about the Clean Water Act is available at the following link: http://www.epa.gov/lawregs/laws/cwa.html.