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WALLINGFORD METAL PLATER SENTENCED FOR FALISIFYING DATA ABOUT HAZARDOUS DISCHARGES

Release Date: 11/08/1996
Contact Information: Alice Kaufman, EPA Press Office, (617) 918-1064

Boston - On November 8, Ronald Lee Adams, the Vice President and co-owner of Yalesville Plating and Metals Processing, Inc., was sentenced to one year probation with six months home confinement, and must pay a $40,000 criminal fine for knowing violations of the federal Clean Water Act. Adams' sentence was imposed for his intentional falsification of environmental monitoring results of his company's discharge of hazardous wastewater to the Wallingford wastewater treatment plant. Adams admitted in May, 1996, that he that he discharged wastewater with harmful levels of copper and nickel on seven separate occasions in 1992 and 1994, and that he chronically failed to submit his testing data to the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. The government has alleged that Adams diluted at least one of his wastewater samples to falsify testing results.

"The intentional falsification of environmental testing strikes at the heart of this nation's environmental ethic," said John P. DeVillars, EPA-New England's regional administrator. "We rely on sound data reported to us by companies like Yalesville in our efforts to secure a clean and healthy environment for all New Englanders. Those individuals who attempt to cover up illegal discharges should know that they will be met with vigorous enforcement and eventual punishment. The federal government intends to criminally prosecute these violators to the fullest extent of the law."

Adams is the primary manager and operating officer of Yalesville Plating & Metals Processing, Inc. located in Wallingford, CT. The Wallingford operation is a metal plating and metal finishing job shop which generates hazardous wastewater. Yalesville obtained a permit from the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (CTDEP) in 1992 to discharge certain treated wastewater to the Wallingford wastewater treatment plant. The permit placed specific limits on the content of the wastewater discharged, and required Yalesville to test the discharged wastewater and report the results to CTDEP.

On four separate occasions between December 1992 and May 1993, Adams fabricated wastewater test results to cover-up illegal discharges. These results were filed with CTDEP in August 1993. Subsequent inspections of the Yalesville facility, beginning in the fall of 1993 and continuing through the fall of 1994, revealed regular and continuing discharges of wastewater in violation of Yalesville's permit. Adams also failed to promptly respond to repeated Notices of Violations by the CTDEP, and chronically failed to file his monitoring reports in a timely manner.

Adams was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury on January 18, 1996 on sixteen counts of knowing violations of the Clean Water Act. He plead guilty to four of the most serious Clean Water Act counts brought under 33 U.S.C. 1319(c)(4) on May 1, 1996.

This case was investigated by EPA's Criminal Investigation Division and the Waste Management Bureau of Connecticut's Department of Environmental Protection. The case was prosecuted for EPA by the United States Attorney's office in New Haven, Connecticut.