WASHINGTON The former owner of the countrys…
WASHINGTON – The former owner of the country’s
largest asbestos abatement training school was sentenced to prison
today, after having fled the United States after her trial in
November 2008. U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton sentenced
Albania Deleon, 41, formerly of Andover, Mass., to 87 months in
prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. She was
also ordered to pay more than $1.2 million in restitution to the
Internal Revenue Service and $369,015 to AIM Mutual Insurance
Company. No level of exposure to asbestos is safe, so removal by
untrained workers, performed without the necessary safeguards,
threatens the health of those workers and the public.
“Today’s sentence marks the final chapter in bringing
Albania Deleon to justice,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant
administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance
Assurance. “Committing environmental crimes to make a profit
that put workers and our communities at risk carry serious
consequences.”
“Today, justice was served, and Albania Deleon has finally
faced the consequences of her crimes. I hope that this sentence
sends a strong message to anyone who might contemplate fleeing to
avoid punishment, that we do not give up on fugitives, and we will
take all necessary means and resources to apprehend and prosecute
them,” said United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz.
In November 2008, following a three-week trial, Deleon was
convicted of a broad range of charges including that she sold
training certificates to thousands of illegal aliens who had not
taken the mandatory training course. Deleon then placed these
unqualified individuals in temporary employment positions as
certified asbestos abatement workers in public buildings throughout
Massachusetts and New England. Deleon was also convicted of
encouraging illegal aliens to reside in the United States, making
false statements about matters within the jurisdiction of the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); procuring false payroll tax
returns, and mail fraud.
From approximately 2001 to 2006, Deleon owned and operated
Environmental Compliance Training (ECT), a certified asbestos
training school located in Methuen. ECT normally offered training
courses on a weekly basis at its Methuen offices, however, many of
the recipients of the certificates never took the required course.
Instead, with Deleon’s knowledge and approval, ECT’s
office employees issued certificates of course completion to
thousands of individuals who did not take the course. These
individuals filed the certificates with the Massachusetts Division
of Occupational Safety in order to be authorized to work in the
asbestos removal industry. Many of the recipients were illegal
aliens who wished to skip the four-daylong course so that they
would not forego a week’s pay.
Since ECT’s training course records were subject to
inspection, Deleon sought to cover up ECT’s practice of
issuing certificates to untrained applicants by having the
applicants sign final examination answer sheets that already had
been completed and graded, which she maintained in ECT’s
files. Based on the evidence at trial and information supplied by
the Division of Occupation Safety, ECT issued training certificates
to over 2,000 untrained individuals.
Deleon is the fifth environmental criminal captured since the EPA
fugitive website was launched in December 2008.
U.S. Attorney Ortiz; Michael E. Hubbard, Special Agent in Charge
of EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division in Boston; Bruce M.
Foucart, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security
Investigations in Boston; William Offord, Special Agent in Charge
of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation;
Scott Antolik, Special Agent in Charge of the Office of Inspector
General, U.S. Social Security Administration, Office of
Investigations – Boston Field Division; James Ennis, Special
Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic
Security Service; John Gibbons, United States Marshall for the
District of Massachusetts; Anthony DiPaolo, Chief of Investigations
for the Massachusetts Insurance Fraud Bureau; and Heather E. Rowe,
Acting Commissioner of the Massachusetts Division of Occupational
Safety made the announcement today.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lori Holik,
former Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Mitchell of Ortiz’s
Economic Crimes Unit and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter W.
Kenyon, an EPA regional criminal enforcement attorney.
More information on EPA’s fugitives list: http://www.epa.gov/fugitives/index.html
Press release on Oct. 30, 2010 capture of Deleon:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/bd4379a92ceceeac8525735900400c27/6c9fd50098b49b31852577cf004b8ca6!OpenDocument