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Virginia Wastewater Treatment Operators Indicted for Violating the Clean Water Act

Release Date: 3/27/2003
Contact Information: Donna Heron 215-814-5113

Contact: Donna Heron 215-814-5113

PHILADELPHIA – The Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia have announced the indictment of Kenneth Hinkley and Alexander Lapteff on criminal violations of the Clean Water Act.

Hinkley, 42, of Stafford, Va., and Lapteff, 66, of Nokesville, Va., were arraigned in federal court today before U.S. District Court Judge Henry Hudson. The trial has been scheduled for July 21, 2003.

The two have been charged in connection with their operation of the wastewater treatment facility at Christchurch School in Christchurch, Middlesex County, Virginia. They are each charged with knowingly failing to operate the facility properly as required by the facility’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, which caused discharges of sludge and chlorine into a tributary of the Rappahannock River.

The two are charged with a number of NPDES permit violations including false statements made in the log books, which are required to be maintained for the facility, and on discharge monitoring reports, which are required to be submitted monthly to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

The case was the result of a joint investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.