Re: Phoenixville Business Owner Sentenced for Using Improper Practices

[Guest guest]

Very interesting article, but not the least bit

surprising.

If you ever come to PA., Phoenixville, Pottstown, and

especially Norristown, are places you would want to

stay away from.

They talk about Philadelphia being " Bad, " but it's not

nearly as bad as those other places. They have Phila.

beat by a mile!

Have to wonder if Indoor Air Quality, Inc., was the

company that was supposed to have removed the asbestos

from the building where I live, because there isn't

any doubt in my mind, asbestos is still in this

building.

Sure wish U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan would look into

what is going on in the building where I live, because

from what I've read and heard about him, he's a good

guy.

Barb

--- tigerpaw2c <tigerpaw2c@...> wrote:

> Phoenixville Business Owner Sentenced for Using

> Improper Practices

> by Realtime News: News Blaze

>

>

http://www.imakenews.com/pureaircontrols/e_article000618353.cfm?

> x=b7HB0R6,bvtv58G

>

>

> The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced

> that Wallace

> Heidelmark, 48, of Phoenixville, was sentenced today

> in U.S.

> District Court for the Eastern District of

> Pennsylvania to 24 months

> in prison and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine, a

> special assessment of

> $300, and restitution in the amount of $41,541.17

> for asbestos

> violations.

>

> Indoor Air Quality, Inc., the Phoenixville company

> owned and

> operated by Heidelmark, was also sentenced to two

> years probation,

> and was ordered to pay a $100,000 fine, a special

> assessment of

> $1,200 and restitution in the amount of $41,541.17.

>

> Heidelmark and Indoor Air Quality, Inc., were in the

> business of

> removing asbestos from homes and businesses in the

> Philadelphia

> area. The indictment, issued in August 2005, charged

> the defendants

> with mail fraud, failure to comply with federal and

> state

> requirements concerning the removal of asbestos,

> including

> improperly removing asbestos from several locations

> between 2001 and

> 2004 without using adequate water during the

> removal, and not

> keeping the removed asbestos adequately wet.

>

> " The Bush Administration holds polluters accountable

> by taking

> action against individuals and companies that

> knowingly risk public

> health for the sake of profit, " said Granta Y.

> Nakayama, EPA's

> Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and

> Compliance

> Assurance. " These illegal asbestos removals exposed

> workers as well

> as children and the general public to unnecessary

> health risks. "

>

> The restitution ordered by the court will pay for

> medical

> examinations for employees of the company and will

> also reimburse

> certain homeowners who had subsequent air testing

> performed.

> " These defendants are now being held accountable for

> exposing people

> to the health risk, " said Pat Meehan, U.S. Attorney

> for the Eastern

> District of Pennsylvania in which the case was

> prosecuted. " There

> are significant dangers associated with the improper

> removal of

> asbestos. That's why there are laws governing how it

> is removed and

> disposed of. "

>

> The defendants operated a scheme to defraud

> homeowners by promising

> to use certain proper removal techniques in removing

> asbestos from

> their residences. They sometimes routinely failed to

> use the

> promised techniques, and regularly falsified air

> testing at the

> conclusion of asbestos removal jobs by sending

> blank, unused air

> sample canisters to a testing lab instead of

> canisters, which had

> actually collected an air sample at the residence

> where the removal

> job occurred. The defendants would then tell the

> homeowners and

> business owners that the building's air had passed

> the post-removal

> air test.

>

> The case was investigated by the Criminal

> Investigative Division and

> the Inspector General of the Environmental

> Protection Agency, with

> cooperation from the Occupational Safety and Health

> Administration.

> The matter has been assigned to Assistant United

> States Attorney

> Albert S. Glenn, and Special Assistant United States

> Attorneys

> Keating and ph .

>

> For specific questions about asbestos removal and

> the environmental

> impact, call the EPA's regional hotline at

> 1-800-438-2474.

>

> Source: U.S. EPA

>

> Pure Air Control Services

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

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