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PA PENNSYLVANIA LABORATORY OWNER INDICTED ON FOUR FELONY CHARGES
Release Date: 03/13/98
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 1998
PENNSYLVANIA LABORATORY OWNER INDICTED ON
FOUR FELONY CHARGES
FOUR FELONY CHARGES
On March 5, William L. Hopkins, former President of Hess Environmental Laboratories in East Stroudsburg, Pa. was indicted in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia on four felony charges. Hopkins was charged with one count of making false statements to EPA, one count of violating the Clean Water Act, one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, and one count of mail fraud. The indictment results from Hopkins’ alleged participation in a conspiracy to provide Hess Laboratories’ customers with false environmental testing results. The charges state that from 1988 through February 1997, Hess customers were fraudulently charged over $2.2 million for environmental tests which were either not performed or were reported with false results. False test reports can lead to serious impacts on human health and the environment when they fail to indicate the presence of harmful levels of toxics or other hazardous substances. Michael Klusaritz, the former Laboratory Director at Hess, Judith McCoy, the former Technical Director at Hess, and Hess Laboratories have already pleaded guilty in this case. If convicted, Hopkins faces a maximum of up to 18 years in prison, a maximum fine of up to $1 million, and/or restitution of over $2.2 million. 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-29 ###
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