Virgin Islands Man Sentenced to Prison for Illegal Removal of Asbestos
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008.
Cleve Allen George, the
owner of the Virgin Islands Asbestos Removal, Co., was sentenced today to
33 months in prison for multiple violations of the Clean Air Act and false
statements related to the demolition of a low-income housing neighborhood
in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Justice Department announced today.
George and co-defendant Dylan C. Starnes, of Atlanta, Ga. were both
convicted after a two-week trial on June 30, 2005, on 15 counts involving
the illegal removal of asbestos-containing material at the Donoe Housing
Community (DHC) Project in 2001 and making materially false statements to
federal agencies concerning air monitoring at the project. George was also
sentenced today to 3 years of supervised release and required to pay for
baseline X-rays for exposed workers.
Starnes, the former president of Environmental Contracting Company
(ECC) and a licensed and certified asbestos contractor/supervisor, was
sentenced on July 27, 2007 to 33 months in prison and three years of
supervised release.
"Both George and Starnes were knowledgeable of how to safely remove
asbestos and chose ignore those safe methods in lieu of a bigger profit,"
said Ronald J. Tenpas, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice
Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. "These sentences
should serve as a warning to those in the industry that profiting at the
expense of the community will not pay off and disregarding these safe
removal methods will have serious consequences."
"Exposure to asbestos can cause serious or even fatal respiratory
diseases," said William Lometti, Special Agent in Charge of EPA Criminal
Investigation Division’s New York Area Office. "The defendant’s criminal
acts put the public at risk. Today’s sentence shows that we take this
seriously, and will prosecute others who violate environmental laws."
The DHC, a low-income public residential community located on St.
Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, was owned by the Virgin Islands Housing
Authority (VIHA). George and Starnes were hired as contractors by the VIHA
to remove asbestos in an old building scheduled for demolition.
The evidence at trial established that the defendants, who filed a work
plan indicating that they would follow all applicable regulations regarding
asbestos removal, did not follow the asbestos work practice regulations, in
violation of federal law. The defendants were convicted of using a power
washer to strip thousands of square feet of asbestos-containing material
from ceilings. The asbestos material then washed out over the ground and
into sewers.
According to the EPA, exposure to airborne asbestos may result in a
potential health risk. Continued exposure can increase the amount of fibers
that remain in the lung. Fibers embedded in lung tissue over time may cause
serious lung diseases including: asbestosis, lung cancer, or mesothelioma.
This case was investigated by EPA Criminal Investigation Division
agents and OSHA agents, and is being prosecuted by the Justice Department’s
Stacey Mitchell, Chief of the Environmental Crimes Section, Joseph Poux,
Trial Attorney with the Environmental Crimes Section, and Major Coleman,
Assistant U.S. Attorney with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of
the Virgin Islands.
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