On April 29, 2009, Gauntt pleaded guilty to a one-count felony information charging him with making false statements in a monthly operational report submitted to the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Gauntt, while serving as the supervisor at the Ft. Gibson Water Treatment Plant, submitted monthly operational reports for drinking water which contained false test entries for water turbidity and residual disinfectant levels. Oklahoma DEQ relies on the accuracy of information from wastewater treatment plant supervisors to ensure that water supplied by the Ft. Gibson Water Treatment Plant is in compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act and is safe for the public to drink.

Under the federal Safe Water Drinking Act, which is administered and enforced by DEQ, as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Fort Gibson water treatment plant must provide drinking water that meets standards to ensure that the water is safe for human consumption. Two of the standards that must be met include turbidity and chlorine. If turbidity, the measure of clarity of drinking water, or chlorine levels are not within levels required by the Safe Drinking Water Act, there is a potential risk that the water could retain micro-organisms that carry waterborne diseases including dysentery.

There was no indication that Gauntt’s actions caused any actual harm to individuals who consumed the drinking water from the plant.

“Falsifying environmental reports, especially those dealing with safe drinking water, is unacceptable,” said John C. Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This sentence should remind all of us that violating the public’s trust will result in prosecution and punishment.”

“Accurate information about drinking water quality is essential to protect the public health,” said Paula Brown, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of EPA’s criminal enforcement office in Dallas. “Those who submit false reports or bogus data undermine those efforts, and will be vigorously prosecuted. We are extremely pleased that this complaint was brought to our attention through EPA’s ‘Report a Violation’ Web site.”

“We have little choice but to trust that the water flowing from our taps is safe to drink,” said Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson. “When a treatment facility official falsifies records, that trust is violated. Along with our partners at all levels of government, the Office of the Attorney General stands ready to investigate and prosecute those whose actions place the public health and water safety at risk.”

The Ft. Gibson Water Treatment Plant is subject to federal regulations and provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act as established and implemented by Oklahoma DEQ and enforced by EPA.

The case arose from a criminal investigation undertaken by the EPA-Criminal Investigation Division and the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office. The case was prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Daniel Dooher of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section.

A Liberian-incorporated shipping company pleaded guilty today in federal court in Trenton, N.J., to failing to keep accurate oily water discharge records and using falsified records to conceal the discharge at sea of untreated bilge from one of its cargo ships, the Justice Department announced.

Dalnave Navigation Inc., a Liberian company with offices in Athens, Greece, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan immediately after the guilty plea to pay a fine of $1 million, the maximum fine allowable for the two counts to which the company pleaded guilty.

Additionally, the company agreed to pay a $350,000 community service payment to the congressionally-established National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to be used specifically for the protection, scientific study and restoration of marine and aquatic resources in the District of New Jersey or its off-shore coastal region.

On Tuesday, the chief engineer and second engineers aboard the Dalnave vessel M/V Myron N were sentenced by Judge Sheridan to three months of probation with the condition that they serve one month in a community corrections facility. Panagiotis Stamatakis, the chief engineer, and Dimitrios Papadakis, the second engineer, both of Greece, pleaded guilty on July 16, 2009, to using falsified records that concealed improper discharges of untreated bilge waste from the M/V Myron N.

“Today’s plea and the sentences handed down in this case send a clear message that failure to comply with environmental laws and lying to authorities to cover up pollution while at sea has consequences,” said John C. Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The Justice Department will continue to prosecute these cases as long as crewmembers and companies continue to violate pollution laws.”

“Shipping companies need to know that the cost of polluting our oceans will be steep, bad for business and bad for their crews,” said Ralph J. Marra Jr., Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. “At the same time, we are pleased that the company seeks to make amends with a significant criminal fine and a community service payment that directly benefits the New Jersey coastal environment.”

“The Coast Guard is committed to working with the maritime industry and federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, to protect the U.S. maritime environment from individuals who pollute our waters,” said Rear Admiral Joseph L. Nimmich, Commander of the First Coast Guard District in Boston. “When these violations occur, the Coast Guard will work with our partners to ensure that the violators are held accountable under the law.”

“Congress passed the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships to prevent the oceans and waterways from being used as dumping grounds for waste oil,” said William Lometti, Special Agent-in-Charge of EPA’s criminal enforcement office in New York. “We will continue to work closely with our counterparts to vigorously prosecute those who try to conceal these illegal acts.”

Engine room operations on board large oceangoing vessels such as the M/V Myron N generate large amounts of waste oil and oil-contaminated bilge waste. International and U.S. law prohibit the discharge of waste containing more than 15 parts per million of oil and without onboard treatment by an oily water separator – a required pollution prevention device. Law also requires that all overboard discharges be recorded in an oil record book, a required log which is regularly inspected by the U.S. Coast Guard.

The government’s investigation began in September 2008, when Coast Guard inspectors conducted an examination of the M/V Myron N, following the ship’s arrival in Gravesend Anchorage, N.Y. and subsequently in the Port of Newark, N.J. The inspections uncovered evidence that crew members had installed pipes to bypass the ship’s pollution control system and pump untreated bilge directly into the ocean. At their guilty pleas, Stamatakis and Papadakis admitted that they knowingly failed to record those discharges in the ship’s official oil record books and presented the false record books to the Coast Guard.

A joint factual statement between the government and Dalnave Navigation describing those and other facts was entered in court today as the basis for the company’s guilty plea.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard, Coast Guard Investigative Service and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Criminal Investigation Division. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen P. O’Leary of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher P. Mooradian of the U.S. Coast Guard First District Legal Office, and Trial Attorney Gary N. Donner of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section.

William Garvey, the president of HPI Products Inc., a pesticide company based in St. Joseph, Mo., was sentenced today in federal court in Kansas City, Mo., for violations of the Clean Water Act and hazardous waste storage laws related to the company’s pesticide production, the Justice Department announced.

Garvey was sentenced to serve six months in prison, six months of home confinement and was ordered to pay a $100,000 fine for having disposed of pesticide waste water down the sewers of the city of St. Joseph. Sentencing for the company was delayed by the court.

Garvey pleaded guilty on Jan. 27, 2009, to a felony violation of the Clean Water Act for disposing of the pesticide waste. The company pleaded guilty on the same day to the same violation of the Clean Water Act as well as a felony violation of the hazardous waste storage laws.

According to court documents, HPI Products maintained warehouses at various locations in St. Joseph where it stored wastes from its operations for years without notifying the proper regulatory agencies. Many of the stored wastes were considered hazardous based upon their ingredients or their characteristics. In addition, HPI employees under Garvey’s supervision disposed of waste waters from the production of pesticides down floor drains and into the city of St. Joseph’s sewers for several years without permit.

“Compliance with our regulatory requirements is essential if we are to protect the environment,” said John C. Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This company and its president obtained an economic advantage over its competitors by violating the law and placing the environment and the public safety at risk. That is unacceptable.”

“By routinely violating federal safeguards for nearly 20 years, this company threatened the environment and put at risk the health and safety of the community,” said Matt Whitworth, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri. “When doing ‘business as usual’ means breaking the law, we will prosecute the offenders and hold them accountable for their actions.”

In a related case, Hans Nielsen, vice president of HPI Products, pleaded guilty yesterday to two counts of violating federal pesticides law designed to provide proper regulatory oversight and prevent improper storage of pesticides.

HPI began production of pesticides in 1980 at 417 S. 4th Street in St. Joseph. From the beginning HPI would wash its waste waters from pesticide production down floor drains and into the city’s sewers. HPI expanded its operations to 424 S. 8th Street in 1986. It eventually relocated and consolidated its operations to 222 Sylvanie Street in 1990. Its practice of using the city’s sewer system for disposal continued at all locations until EPA and Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) inspections in 2007.

In addition the two former HPI facilities and three other locations in St. Joseph were used as warehouses to store pesticides and process waste it didn’t dump into sewers. The pesticides and wastes were left for years in unmaintained buildings without the proper notification to state and federal authorities.

When authorities did discover the warehouses many of the containers were found to have leaked or spilled onto the warehouse floors and ground underneath the warehouses. Samples taken at the storage facilities indicated many of the containers held hazardous wastes. The buildings have been cleaned up by HPI under an EPA order. Further investigation of pollution of the soil around the building is pending.

The investigation was conducted by the EPA Criminal Investigation Division and MDNR. The case is being prosecuted by the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri.

A federal court in Seattle has permanently barred Daniel Andersen from promoting fraudulent tax schemes, the Justice Department announced today. Documents the government filed on August 11 requested that the court enjoin Andersen, arguing that he was a founding member of the Institute for Global Prosperity, an entity that promoted both its own fraudulent tax scheme and the fraudulent tax schemes of others.

According to papers filed with the court, Andersen and David Struckman founded Global Prosperity in 1996, and Lorenzo Lamantia joined their scheme as “founder” in 1998. By 2002, Global Prosperity had sold its products to over 44,000 customers and had earned over $50 million in the process. Global Prosperity charged customers $1,250 for a 12-part audio course containing multiple erroneous theories about federal income taxes, which the government described as “nonsense.”

The government’s request that the court enjoin Andersen explains that Andersen is currently in federal prison in Lompoc, Calif., in connection with his promotion of the Global Prosperity scheme. The court papers explain that other tax fraud vendors sold their schemes at conferences Global Prosperity organized, and that many of these vendors have been sentenced to prison for federal tax crimes, including Johnny “Liberty” Van Hove, Keith Anderson, and Dennis Poseley. Global Prosperity charged as much as $37,000 to attend such conferences.

John DiCicco, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division, thanked Tax Division trial attorney Robert Fay and IRS Revenue Agents Terry Martin and Cynthia Zambito for their efforts in obtaining the injunction.

Since 2001, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against more than 410 tax fraud promoters and unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website.

The government lawsuit alleged that Ngo had a long history of preparing false tax returns claiming improper deductions for non-deductible personal expenses. According to the complaint, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) officials twice met with Ngo and explained to him that the deductions he was claiming were improper, but Ngo continued to claim improper deductions. Ngo’s conduct allegedly caused over $9.6 million dollars in harm to the United States.

“The Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service are working together closely to shut down tax preparers who refuse to comply with the tax laws,” said John DiCicco, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

DiCicco thanked Grayson Hoffman, the Justice Department trial attorney who handled the case, and Chris Hendrix, a revenue agent with the IRS’s Small Business/Self-Employed Division, who conducted the investigation.

Since 2001, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained more than 385 injunctions against tax fraud promoters and tax return preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s Web site, as is information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division.