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PA FORMER PENNSYLVANIA LABORATORY PRESIDENT SENTENCED FOR CLEAN WATER ACT VIOLATIONS
Release Date: 10/30/98
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1998
FORMER PENNSYLVANIA LABORATORY PRESIDENT SENTENCED FOR CLEAN WATER ACT VIOLATIONS
William L. Hopkins, Jr., of Buck Hill Falls, Pa., former President of Hess Environmental Laboratories and R.K.R. Hess Associates Inc., of East Stroudsburg, Pa., was sentenced on Oct. 21, by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Easton, Pa., for violating the Clean Water Act. Hopkins allegedly defrauded hundreds of Hess Laboratories’ customers, including EPA, who were billed at least $2.1 million for environmental lab tests that were falsely reported or never performed. Reporting of these tests is used as a compliance tool to satisfy requirements of environmental laws and to determine necessary remedies in cases when there are various contaminants. Hopkins will serve 15 months in prison, pay a total of $331,071 in fines and restitution and serve three years probation. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, EPA’s Office of Inspector General and the Criminal Investigation Division of the U.S. Army, with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center.
R-149 ###
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