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TWO EPA OFFICIALS INDICTED FOR OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE, CONSPIRACY

MILWAUKEE - A federal grand jury today indicted two EPA officials on charges of obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and perjury, announced the Department of Justice.

Marc M. Radell, 40, an employee of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region III Office of Regional Counsel in Philadelphia, and Claudia Johnson, 36, an employee of the EPA Region V Water Division in Chicago were each indicted on four felony counts arising from allegations of criminal conduct that surfaced during federal civil cases in Wisconsin.

In January 1996, EPA Region V granted three Wisconsin Indian Tribes the authority under federal environmental law to determine the quality of surface waters within their reservations. The State of Wisconsin filed lawsuits in federal district court challenging the EPA's decisions.

The indictments charge that during the course of the litigation, Radell, an attorney, and Johnson created and backdated EPA documents, and then falsely stated in affidavits and during depositions that the documents existed prior to the time that the EPA made its decisions regarding the three Tribes. The lawsuits were subsequently dismissed and the EPA was ordered to pay Wisconsin and other parties approximately $369,000 in attorney's fees and costs.

Each defendant, if convicted on all counts, faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine of up to one million dollars.

This case is being handled by the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice. The investigation was conducted by the EPA Office of Inspector General in Chicago.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are entitled to a fair trial at which it will be the government's burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

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