FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         CIV
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1995                         (202) 616-2765
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

                                 
    PUERTO RICO COMPANY PAYS U.S. $1.4 MILLION TO SETTLE CLAIM

     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Metro Construction Company of San Juan,
Puerto Rico, and its owner, Francisco A. Juelle, will pay the
United States $1.4 million to settle allegations they defrauded
the government from 1987 through 1989 by submitting false
invoices for hauling sanitary landfill such as dirt and rocks to
the San Juan dump, the Department of Justice said today.
     Assistant Attorney General Frank W. Hunger of the Civil
Division said the agreement was reached after the Department told
Metro and Juelle they were liable for claims under the False
Claims Act.  Metro and Juelle have plead guilty to criminal
charges of conspiring to defraud the United States.
     The Department said Metro submitted the invoices to San
Juan's Community Development Block Grant program under a
Department of Housing and Urban Development grant program.  The
invoices contained false or nonexistent vehicle license plate
numbers and drivers and also billed HUD for deliveries that never
were made.  Under the agreement, HUD will return $1.1 million of
the settlement to the program.
     The FBI and HUD's Office of the Inspector General
investigated the case.  The settlement was negotiated by the
Department's Civil Division and the U.S. Attorney's office in
Puerto Rico.
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