Lab Owner Sentenced To 40 Months In Waste Case

An environmental laboratory owner in Mississippi has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison after being convicted of falsifying records on industrial wastewater samples. U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate in Jackson sentenced Tennie White to 40 months during a hearing Monday.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — An environmental laboratory owner in Mississippi has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison after being convicted of falsifying records on industrial wastewater samples.

U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate in Jackson sentenced Tennie White to 40 months during a hearing Monday. White was the sole operator of Mississippi Environmental Analytical Laboratories Inc. She also was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.

She was convicted in May in U.S. District Court in Jackson on two counts of making false statements and one count of obstruction.

White's lawyer, Abby Brumley, has said they plan to appeal.

The indictment from November 2012 says Borg Warner Emissions Systems Inc. hired White to test wastewater discharge at its car parts plant in Water Valley. It says White created three reports in 2009 that indicated testing had been done, when it had not.

The tests were used for reports submitted to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. The car parts company was not accused of wrongdoing.

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