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PA FLORIDA MAN AND PENNSYLVANIA MAN INDICTED FOR ILLEGAL STORAGE AND DISPOSAL OF HAZARDOUS WASTES
Release Date: 12/19/97
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1997
FLORIDA MAN AND PENNSYLVANIA MAN INDICTED FOR ILLEGAL STORAGE AND DISPOSAL OF HAZARDOUS WASTES
On Dec. 9, Hanz Richard Becker of Port Saint Lucie, Fla., and Manfred Derewal, Jr. of Dubiln, Pa., were indicted in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia for violating the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) by illegally storing and disposing of hazardous wastes. Becker was president of Chem-Fab Inc., in Doyelstown, Pa. and was responsible for manufacturing at the Chem-Fab facility. Chem-Fab was in the electroplating and metal etching business. In 1993, Chem-Fab began closing down and its facility was taken over by Electronic Marketing Group Inc., a computer manufacturing company where Derewal was a manager. The charges allege that the defendants illegally stored and disposed of hazardous chromium and tricholorethylene wastes in a leaking underground storage tank at the former Chem-Fab facility, potentially threatening drinking water supplies. Chromium and trichloroethylene can be highly toxic to the liver, kidneys, and nervous system, if ingested in sufficient quantities. Each defendant was indicted on three counts of violating RCRA, and, if convicted, faces a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment, fines of up to $750,000 or both. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI, with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center.
R-176 ###
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