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PA MASSACHUSETTS MAN TO BE IMPRISONED FOR ILLEGAL ASBESTOS REMOVAL

Release Date: 04/10/98
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 1998

MASSACHUSETTS MAN TO BE IMPRISONED FOR ILLEGAL ASBESTOS REMOVAL

On April 3, Stephen P. Draper of Woburn, Mass., plead guilty in U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire in Concord to one count of violating the Clean Air Act for the illegal removal and disposal of asbestos. The defendant admitted his role in the illegal removal of asbestos insulation from equipment housed in the former Johns-Manville Corp. manufacturing facility in Nashua, N.H., during the fall and winter of 1992. EPA agents discovered hundreds of bags of asbestos and loose asbestos abandoned at the facility. Cleanup of the Johns-Manville site was conducted by EPA, state and local officials in 1997, and cost $20 million. Inhalation of airborne asbestos fibers can cause a lung disease known as “asbestosis” and lung cancer in humans. The plea agreement calls for Draper to serve a sentence of 14 months in prison and to pay a fine of up to $1,000. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Nashua, N.H. Fire Department.

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