Tennessee Man Fined $5,000 And Sentenced To One Year Probation For Submitting False Permits In Barren River Pipeline Project
– Created and forged documents submitted to the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers and others
LOUISVILLE, KY –A Nolensville, Tennessee man was sentenced today in United States District Court to one year probation and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine for creating a false and fictitious permit so that two gas pipelines could be built under Barren River, announced David J. Hale, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky.
Peter Grimes, admitted on December 11, 2011 to knowingly and willfully making a false permit authorization letter, and submitted it to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection.
According to court records, an inspector with the Division of Water, Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection (KDEP) discovered that Gulfstar had constructed a gas pipeline under the Barren River in two locations. When KDEP asked Gulfstar for its permit, in January 2008, Gulfstar passed the request on to Energy Management Services and Peter Grimes. At the time, Grimes was working as a professional consultant, charged with obtaining all necessary permits. According to an interview with Grimes, the gas pipelines had been constructed in August and September 2007.
In January 2008, Grimes manufactured and submitted a fraudulent and fictitious U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit authorization letter to an inspector for the Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection in Bowling Green, Kentucky. This was to create the false impression that construction of the pipeline in Barren River had been conducted pursuant to a valid permit. Grimes also submitted the permit authorization letter to an employee of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Louisville, Kentucky.
Grimes admitted that he manufactured a written authorization on the letterhead of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This entire document was false and fictitious, and it was material to the regulatory activities of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection agency whose authority is delegated to Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection, which was investigating whether the gas pipeline had been properly permitted. The false document was also material to regulatory activities of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency investigating whether the permit had been properly issued.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Joshua Judd and it was investigated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Criminal Investigations.
