Contact Person: Winston Holliday (803) 929-3000

Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Bill Nettles stated today that Kenneth Alan Lauber, age 55, of Greenville, South Carolina, was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Greenville for Mail Fraud, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341. Senior United States District Judge Henry M. Herlong, Jr., sentenced LAUBER to five years probation, including eight months home confinement, and ordered Lauber to pay back $45,000 in fees earned.

Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing established that LAUBER was the owner of an environmental consulting business. He was contracted to conduct a clean-up of groundwater at the Bowman Transportation Site off Woodruff Road after an underground fuel storage tank had been removed. The process requires a period where the site is left alone and monitored to insure that no petroleum remains. Instead, LAUBER continued to visit the site secretly and pump groundwater out, misleading state officials regarding the level of residual petroleum. The fraud charges stemmed from falsified reports he submitted to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). Lauber received $45,000 in compensation for his work, which he will have to pay back.

DHEC conducted the investigation, which was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Winston D. Holliday, Jr., of the Columbia office.

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