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NEW YORK MAN SENTENCED FOR ASBESTOS CRIME
Release Date: 06/09/2000
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 2000
NEW YORK MAN SENTENCED FOR ASBESTOS CRIME
On June 2, Steven Hunter of Cayuga, N.Y., was ordered by the U.S. District Court in Syracuse to serve 41 months in prison and pay $59,700 in restitution to victims of illegal asbestos abatement. The defendant was previously convicted on seven counts of violating the Clean Air Act. Hunter is the owner of Hunter Heating, Contracting and Plumbing. While conducting asbestos abatement at the Masonic Temple in Auburn, N.Y., from December 1997 to March 1998, Hunter failed to notify EPA of an asbestos renovation project, failed to have a certified contractor perform the work, failed to properly wet and bag the asbestos, failed to properly label containers filled with asbestos and failed to dispose of the asbestos at a landfill approved for that purpose. Evidence at trial established that the defendant knowingly sent workers into an asbestos “hot zone” for more than twelve weeks without informing them about the presence of asbestos and without providing protective equipment. The improper removal of asbestos can lead to the inhalation of airborne asbestos fibers, which can cause lung cancer, a lung disease known as “asbestosis,” and mesothelioma, which is a cancer of the chest and abdominal cavities. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Syracuse.
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