2 indicted in asbestos worker training scheme
An employee and the owner of one of the state's largest asbestos removal training schools were indicted in federal court Wednesday on charges of sending dozens of workers into the industry with phony documents and no proper training.
According to an affidavit signed by an agent with the US Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Compliance Training of Methuen charged clients, many of whom were undocumented immigrants, for certificates falsely stating they had completed a training course. The workers then used the certificates to obtain employment at public facilities, says the affidavit.
Laura Marlin, commissioner of the Massachusetts Division of Occupational Safety, which licenses asbestos removal workers, said extra safeguards make it unlikely that shoddy work from untrained employees would harm the public. But the workers themselves could be at risk, she said.
"Asbestos abatement is hazardous work, and it's particularly hazardous if workers are not trained in the proper procedures to use to protect their own health," she said. "We're very hopeful that this indictment and the attention it's brought will deter other companies from similar actions."
Marlin said her agency is working to revoke Environmental Compliance's license to operate, an action the company is appealing.
Lawyer Carl Donaldson, who represents Environmental Compliance's owner, Albania Deleon, said his client is innocent and was unaware that her employees were falsifying documents.
"Not only did she not have any knowledge that it happened, but she's shocked and outraged that the people she delegated those responsibilities to allowed it to happen," he said.
An employee, Jose Francisco Garcia-Garcia of Lawrence, was also named in the indictment. He could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Federal and state law require that workers undergo a 32-hour training course and pass a test before they can obtain a state license to handle asbestos. While Deleon's company did offer the class to some workers, the affidavit says, employees sometimes simply sold workers the certificates, doctoring exam results and company records to make it appear as if they had been trained.
It's unclear which asbestos removal projects those workers performed.
With prolonged exposure, tiny asbestos fibers can embed themselves in the lungs, causing bleeding that may lead to lung cancer and other potentially lethal conditions. Federal guidelines say workers should be taught to use respirators and to properly clean their worksite to prevent the toxic substance from spreading.
More than half of the asbestos removal licenses issued in Massachusetts in 2004 went to employees certified by Deleon's company, the affidavit says. Deleon, of Salem, N.H., then employed many of those students through her temporary staffing agency, Methuen Staffing, it says.
According to the affidavit, EPA agents got a tip in 2004 that Environmental Compliance was selling the certificates. An undercover operative later contacted Garcia-Garcia, pretending to look for a certificate for a friend.
"Do you want it fast or do you want . . . to take the class?" Garcia-Garcia allegedly asked.
Another agent posing as the friend paid Garcia-Garcia $400 for the certificate, filming the encounter with a hidden camera, according to the affidavit.
The indictment charges both Deleon, 38, and Garcia-Garcia, 47, with one count of making a false statement to a government agency.
