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PA GUILTY PLEA IN CLEAN WATER ACT FELONY CASE

Release Date: 10/28/96
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PA GUILTY PLEA IN CLEAN WATER ACT FELONY CASE

FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1996

GUILTY PLEA IN CLEAN WATER ACT FELONY CASE

On Oct. 11, Billy Joe Jones, former operator of the wastewater treatment facility at the Colin Anderson Center in St. Marys, W.Va., pleaded guilty in Wheeling, W.Va., to 17 felony violations of the Clean Water Act. Jones admitted to knowingly allowing sewage to bypass the treatment facility, discharging approximately 65,000 gallons of raw sewage into the Ohio River in the fall of 1992, submitting falsified wastewater analysis reports, falsely telling West Virginia authorities that he did not know who was operating the plant at the time of the bypass and falsely stating that sludge generated by the plant was removed by a tanker truck. Jones faces a maximum sentence of up to five years of imprisonment and/or fines of up to $250,000 on each of several of the counts. On the remainder, he faces a maximum sentence of up to two years imprisonment and/or fines of up to $250,000. The case was investigated by EPA's Criminal Investigation Division, the FBI, and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.

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