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ILLINOIS COMPANY AND SIX EMPLOYEES INDICTED
Release Date: 04/29/99
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FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1999
ILLINOIS COMPANY AND SIX EMPLOYEES INDICTED
Chemetco Inc., a Delaware Corp., conducting business in Madison County, Ill., and six of its employees were indicted on charges of conspiring to violate the Clean Water Act on April 21 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois in East St. Louis. The six defendants are: Denis L. Feron of Beerse, Belgium; Gary L. Reed of Collinsville, Ill.; George J. Boud, Jr. of East Alton, Ill; Roger K. Copeland of Cottage Hills, Ill.; Kevin A. Youngman of Highland, Ill., and Bruce W. Hendrickson of Granite City, Ill. Five of the defendants, Chemetco, Boud, Copeland, Youngman, and Hendrickson were also charged with violating the Clean Water Act. Chemetco and Hendrickson were further charged with one count of making false statements to EPA and one count of making false statements to the Army Corps of Engineers. Chemetco operates a secondary copper smelter near Hartford, Ill. The indictment alleges that Chemetco and the other defendants used an illegal secret discharge pipe at the Chemetco smelter from September 1986 to September 1996, to discharge water contaminated with various pollutants including zinc, lead and cadmium into Long Lake, which is a tributary of the Mississippi River. In sufficient quantities, lead, zinc, and cadmium can be harmful to fish and aquatic life and can make water undrinkable for humans, birds and wildlife. If convicted on all charges, Chemetco faces a maximum fine of up to $2 million; Hendrickson faces a maximum of up to 18 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $1 million; Boud, Copeland and Youngman face maximum prison sentences of up to 8 years and/or fines of up to $500,000; and Feron and Reed face a maximum of up to 5 years in prison and/or a fine of $250,000. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is supervising Chemetco’s remediation of contamination in portions of Long Lake and adjacent wetlands. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the Illinois State Police, the FBI, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation-Major Fraud Unit, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and is being prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice.
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