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PA CONVICTION FOR HAZ. WASTE FRAUD

Release Date: 06/28/96
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PA CONVICTION FOR HAZ. WASTE FRAUD

FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 1996

HAZARDOUS WASTE DISPOSAL FRAUD CONVICTION LEADS TO 37-MONTH SENTENCE FOR MASSACHUSETTS MAN

On June 25, Mark O. Henry, director and treasurer of Beede Waste Oil of Plaistow, N.H., was sentenced to 37 months incarceration followed by two years of supervised release for a Feb. 22, jury trial conviction on two counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to violate the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Henry was charged with shipping of soil contaminated with hazardous waste to an unpermitted disposal facility. A co-defendant, Robert LaFlamme, who was Beede's manager, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate RCRA on Jan. 16. His sentencing is scheduled for July 22. Henry and LaFlamme had devised a scheme to defraud approximately 75 companies and individuals who were trying to comply with environmental laws concerning the disposal of hazardous wastes. The two defendants accepted approximately 28,000 tons of soil contaminated with hazardous waste claiming that it would be transported to Beede Waste Oil and recycled into asphalt. Henry and LaFlamme knew that this hazardous waste would not be recycled and that Beede Waste Oil could not accept more than 3,000 tons of contaminated soil according to its New Hampshire storage permit. Beede Waste Oil received $1 million as a result of this recycling fraud. The State of New Hampshire has, to date, spent approximately $1 million and the federal government has spent $100,000 on cleanup efforts at the Beede site. Several large piles of soil contaminated with hazardous waste in addition to hundreds of drums and storage tanks containing hazardous waste remain at the site. The case was investigated by EPA's Criminal Investigation Division.