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TWO WEST VIRGINIA CORPORATIONS AND THEIR OPERATOR SENTENCED
Release Date: 01/25/2001
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FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2001
TWO WEST VIRGINIA CORPORATIONS
AND THEIR OPERATOR SENTENCED
AND THEIR OPERATOR SENTENCED
North American Inc., a defunct company formerly located in St. Albans, W.Va.; IPI Inc., in Loudendale, W.Va.; and the companies’ former operator Matthew J. Taylor, also of Loudendale, were all sentenced on Jan. 17 for a variety of federal crimes associated with a scheme to defraud West Virginia’s Division of Highways from 1994-1999. The scheme involved illegally disposing of excess paint in a variety of ways, including spraying it into waterways and then using fraudulent invoices to charge the State for the paint by falsely claiming that it had been used to paint bridges. Taylor previously pleaded guilty to violating the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), for illegally storing waste methyl ethyl ketone. IPI previously pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act by spraying excess paint into Armstrong Creek near Powellton, W.Va. North American previously pleaded guilty to mail fraud and was sentenced to pay a $140,000 fine. In addition, all three defendants were ordered to pay $250,000 in restitution to the West Virginia Division of Highways, in addition to the $50,000 that they have already paid. All defendants were placed on five years probation; Taylor must also serve six months in home confinement. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the FBI, the West Virginia Legislative Commission for Special Investigations, the West Virginia Division of Highways Auditing Section, and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center and the EPA Region III Laboratory. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia in Charleston.
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