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TWO PENNSYLVANIA MEN PLEAD GUILTY TO WATER VIOLATION
Release Date: 02/17/2000
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FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, FEB. 17, 2000
TWO PENNSYLVANIA MEN PLEAD GUILTY TO WATER VIOLATION
Robert Schippers and Ronald Padula, both of Easton, Pa., pleaded guilty on Feb. 6 in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, Pa., to multiple federal offenses. Schippers, who pleaded to 46 offenses, including violating the Clean Water Act (CWA), owned and operated Schippers Service Inc., a trucking company located in Easton which transported hazardous materials such as kerosene, diesel fuel, gasoline, aviation gas and fuel oil. Padua, who pleaded to 23 separate offenses, including multiple false statement charges and a violation of the CWA, was the head mechanic at Schippers Service and was licensed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to perform state-required safety inspections on automobiles and trucks. The defendants cleaned truck cargo tanks and then emptied the waste washwater into the sewer system owned by the city of Easton. The washwater contained hazardous chemicals including petroleum residues from the tanks and kerosene and diesel fuel used to clean the tanks. Dumping petroleum products into public sewers can create an explosion hazard and these products can also harm sewage treatment facility equipment and destroy bacteria which are necessary for the proper treatment of sewage. The defendants also falsified vehicle inspection reports on numerous occasions. Schippers= plea agreement calls for a jail sentence of one to three years in prison and a fine to be determined at sentencing. Padula=s sentence is yet to be determined. The case was investigated by EPA=s Criminal Investigation Division with the assistance of EPA=s National Enforcement Investigations Center and the U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General=s Office. It is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney=s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
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