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Laboratory Owner Who Obstructed EPA Case Sentenced to 46 Months Imprisonment on Second Lab Fraud Conviction

Release Date: 03/09/2005
Contact Information:

Contact: Stacie Findon, 202-564-4355 / [email protected]

(03/09/05) Shawn Decareaux Kilgarlin of Baton Rouge, La., former owner of a Baton Rouge laboratory known as Enviro-Comp, was sentenced to serve 46 months in federal prison and was ordered to pay $13,359 in public defender fees on Feb. 24, by U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana in Baton Rouge for mail fraud and obstruction of justice. Kilgarlin's crimes took place while she was on bail awaiting sentencing in a case where she had admitted to witness tampering and making false statements in an EPA Criminal Investigation Division (EPA-CID) lab fraud investigation. In this second case, blood samples were collected but never analyzed and false laboratory reports for drugs were sent to Anderson Industrial Scaffolding Services, the defendant's client. The health and welfare of the public depend heavily upon environmental and worker safety officials having accurate laboratory information. For her prior conviction, Kilgarlin served 12 months in prison, paid a fine of $3,000, and was ordered to serve three years' probation. The current case was investigated by the New Orleans Office of EPA-CID and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality Investigations Section. It was prosecuted by the U.S. attorney's office in Baton Rouge.