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Colorado Electroplating Company and Manager Indicted in Sewer Dumping Case
Release Date: 08/25/2004
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(08/25/04) Luxury Wheels Inc. of Grand Junction, Colo., and Albert David Hajduk, Luxury Wheels’ operations manager, have been indicted on charges of conspiracy and violating the Clean Water Act (CWA). According to the indictment, Luxury Wheels was an electroplating business that used various chemicals for its processes including acids and caustics, as well as chemical solutions containing metals. The indictment alleges that from May 1999 until September 2003, the defendants entered into a conspiracy and violated the CWA by attempting to treat wastewater at times when their treatment system was overburdened, by diluting wastes before treating them in violation of their discharge permit and by hiring a company to “hydrojet” the company’s sewage service line to remove chemical sludge blockages in order to conceal evidence of illegal discharges. Illegally discharging chemicals, caustics and acids into sewers can create a danger to sewage treatment plant workers and can also prevent the proper treatment of sewage when it reaches the plant. Indictments were handed up on Aug. 11 in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado in Denver. The case was investigated by the Denver Office of EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center. It is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver.
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