MAN GETS HOME DETENTION FOR CONSPIRING TO VIOLATE ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS WHILE REMOVING ASBESTOS AT WOODVILLE STATE HOSPITAL SITE
United States Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan announced today, September 12, 2008, that Charles Victoria, a resident of Parkville, Maryland, has been sentenced in federal court in Pittsburgh to six months of home detention to be followed by three years of probation on his conviction of conspiracy to violate environmental laws and obstruction of an administrative proceeding.
United States District Judge Gary L. Lancaster imposed the sentence on Victoria, age 49.
According to information presented to the court by Assistant United States Attorney Brendan T. Conway, Woodville Associates, Ltd. purchased a portion of the decommissioned Woodville State Hospital in 1998. The property was approximately 200 acres and included thirty-eight (38) buildings and a steam line, much of which was insulated with asbestos-containing materials.
Woodville Development, Inc., the general partner of Woodville Associates, Ltd., hired Independent Enterprises and Industrial-Commercial Consulting International, Inc. to remove the asbestos from the buildings and the steam line. Industrial-Commercial Consulting International, Inc., in turn, hired Victoria, a licensed asbestos removal supervisor, to supervise the asbestos removal.
Asbestos is a hazardous air pollutant known to cause cancer and lung disease, and therefore its removal is governed by work practice standards designed to ensure the safe removal of the asbestos. These standards include, among other things, wetting the asbestos prior to removal, preventing the discharge of asbestos into the environment, and properly disposing of the asbestos. Victoria conspired to remove the asbestos in violation of these and other standards, and made misrepresentations to government officials in connection with the investigation of the clean-up.
Ms. Buchanan commended the Criminal Investigative Division of the Environmental Protection Agency for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Victoria.
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