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MAN SENTENCED FOR ILLEGAL ASBESTOS REMOVAL AT FEDERAL FACILITY
Release Date: 01/06/2000
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FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 2000
MAN SENTENCED FOR ILLEGAL ASBESTOS REMOVAL AT FEDERAL FACILITY
Gus Serrano of Rialto, Calif., was sentenced to one year in prison on Jan. 3 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in Fresno for knowingly violating the Clean Air Act by illegally removing asbestos-containing material from residential buildings at the Naval Air Weapons Station in China Lake, Calif. Serrano was the on-site supervisor of a southern California asbestos-abatement company, Asbestos Consulting Technicians Technology, which was conducting asbestos removal under a federal government contract. Serrano and other persons working at his direction violated numerous asbestos removal work practice standards in February 1997, including failing to adequately wet the asbestos before removing it, failing to carefully lower the asbestos after removal and failing to ensure that no visible emissions occurred as a result of the removal. Inhaling asbestos fibers is a known cause of lung cancer, a lung disease known as “asbestosis,” and mesothelioma, which is a cancer of the chest and abdominal cavities. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the U.S. Naval Investigative Service and was prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice.
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