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PA PRES. OF P.RICAN PLATING FIRM SENT. FOR ILLEGAL WASTE DIS.

Release Date: 08/16/96
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PA PRES. OF P.RICAN PLATING FIRM SENT. FOR ILLEGAL WASTE DIS.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 1996

PRESIDENT OF PUERTO RICAN PLATING FIRM SENTENCED FOR ILLEGAL WASTE DISPOSAL

On Aug. 8, John Maas, former president of National Circuits Caribe Inc. (NCCI), a Puerto Rican electroplating firm, was sentenced to two years probation and 150 hours of community service on two felony counts of violating the Atomic Energy Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. NCCI, located in Puerto Real Industrial Park in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, specialized in the production of circuit boards. The company began business in 1988 and was abandoned by the defendant in 1991, leaving behind 2273 gauging devices which contained by-product radioactive material. The site was discovered when a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) inspector noticed several persons at the NCCI facility dressed in protective clothing, including full face respirators. Further investigation revealed that NCCI was also a large quantity generator of hazardous waste which had been abandoned. Thirty-four drums containing waste acids and cyanides and several baths containing waste solvents were left at the NCCI plant when the company went out of business. Many of the chemicals had been used to clean circuit boards manufactured by NCCI. The case was investigated by EPA's Criminal Investigation Division, the FBI and the NRC.

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