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MICHIGAN LABORATORY, OWNER ADMIT FALSIFYING TEST RESULTS
Release Date: 02/11/2002
Contact Information:
FOR RELEASE: MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2002
MICHIGAN LABORATORY, OWNER ADMIT FALSIFYING TEST RESULTS
Luke Hester 202-564-7818 / hester.luke@epa.gov
Luke Hester 202-564-7818 / hester.luke@epa.gov
Martin Environmental Laboratories Inc., in Llvonia, Mich., and its owner, Jerry Martin, pleaded guilty to defrauding customers through the mail. The defendant defrauded over 25 customers, including environmental consulting firms, hazardous waste facilities, used oil reclamation facilities, state and county agencies, land owners and industries with discharge permits. The customers hired Martin to perform tests for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which can cause a variety of illnesses in people who are improperly exposed to them. In some cases, Martin falsified the results by understating the levels of VOCs in a sample, and in others he did not perform any tests at all, yet he billed his customers for testing. When sentenced, Martin faces a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison and/or up to $250,000 in fines and the company faces up to $500,000 in fines. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit.
R-017 # # #
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