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PA WEST VIRGINIA WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT OPERATOR SENT.

Release Date: 3/27/97
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PA WEST VIRGINIA WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT OPERATOR SENT.

FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 1997

WEST VIRGINIA WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT OPERATOR SENTENCED

On March 12, in U.S. District Court in Clarksburg, W.Va., Billy Joe Jones of Pennsboro, W.Va., was sentenced to 27 months imprisonment to be followed by two years of supervised release. In addition, he is prohibited from working as a wastewater treatment operator. Jones, former operator of the wastewater treatment facility at the Colin Anderson Center in St. Marys, W.Va., previously pleaded guilty to 17 felony violations of the Clean Water Act. He admitted to knowingly allowing sewage to bypass the treatment facility, discharging approximately 65,000 gallons of raw sewage into the Ohio River in 1992. Jones also falsified wastewater analysis reports, telling W. Va. authorities that he did not know who was operating the plant at the time of the bypass and stating that sludge generated by the plant was removed by a tanker truck. In addition, he failed to record sampling and monitoring data and made false statements to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection on the facility's discharge monitoring reports during parts of 1991 and 1992. The case was investigated by EPA's Criminal Investigation Division, the FBI and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.

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