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TWO NEW YORK MEN AND COMPANY SENTENCED FOR ASBESTOS CRIMES
Release Date: 12/29/2000
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, DEC. 29, 2000
TWO NEW YORK MEN AND COMPANY
SENTENCED FOR ASBESTOS CRIMES
SENTENCED FOR ASBESTOS CRIMES
On Dec. 14, John Phelps of Hastings, N.Y., Thomas Strong of Cicero, N.Y., and Northern Environmental Services, Inc., were all sentenced for various federal crimes from the illegal removal of asbestos at the Lamson building in Syracuse, N.Y. Phelps previously pleaded guilty to directing workers to violate prohibitions in the Clean Air Act against the illegal stripping, removal, transportation and disposal of asbestos. He was sentenced to 37 months in prison, was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and to serve three years of supervised release after he is released from prison. Strong previously pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to crimes committed by Northern Environmental personnel. He was placed on three years probation, fined $15,000 and was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service. Northern Environmental Services, which is now out of business, was fined $55,000. This amount is equal to the company’s remaining assets. The illegal stripping, removal, transportation and disposal of asbestos can expose people to the inhalation of asbestos fibers, which are 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, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation with assistance from the New York State Department of Labor’s Asbestos Control Unit. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Syracuse.
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