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PA CALIFORNIA MEN CHARGED FOR INSTALLING ILLEGAL CFC SUBSTITUTE

Release Date: 09/12/97
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1997
CALIFORNIA MEN CHARGED FOR INSTALLING ILLEGAL CFC SUBSTITUTE

In one of the first criminal prosecutions of its kind, felony Clean Air Act charges were filed on Sept. 3, in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles, against Dennis Henkel and Glenn Shortt of NBM Distributing in Twenty-nine Palms, Calif., and Randy Christensen of C&C Distribution in Costa Mesa, Calif. The men allegedly installed a flammable refrigerant known as “HC-12a” in the air conditioners of motor vehicles. Because of it’s high fire risk, HC-12a (Hydrocarbon Blend B) is listed by EPA as an unacceptable substitute for the ozone-depleting refrigerant gas CFC-12 in automotive air conditioning systems. This case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the California Bureau of Automotive Repair with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement
Investigations Center.


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