FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ENR

FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 1998

THREE MEN INDICTED IN CONSPIRACY

TO USE HOMELESS MEN FOR ILLEGAL ASBESTOS REMOVAL

Recent Cases Prompt Justice Department and EPA

to Issue Nationwide Warning to Homeless Shelters

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A federal grand jury indictment was

unsealed in Madison, Wisconsin today charging three men with
conspiring to illegally remove dangerous asbestos from an aging
Wisconsin manufacturing plant. The three employed untrained
homeless men to do the work. The indictment was handed up by the
grand jury on April 2, 1998.

"Knowingly removing asbestos improperly is criminal.

Exploiting the homeless to do this work is cruel," said Attorney
General Janet Reno. "To those who are improperly removing
asbestos and threatening our health for a few dollars, we say
this: we are looking for you, we are going to find you, and we
are going to prosecute you."

"Today's indictment sends a clear message: This

Administration will prosecute to the full extent of the law
anyone who violates our nation's environmental and public health
laws," said EPA Administrator Carol Browner. "We especially will
call to account those who place at risk the health and safety of
vulnerable people."

"The National Coalition for the Homeless is alarmed and

horrified that in now several states, people are both exploiting
and putting in harm's way, homeless individuals eager for
employment opportunities," said Mary Ann Gleason, Executive
Director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. "At the
suggestion of the Justice Department and EPA, the Coalition is
launching a national alert to notify individuals who are
homeless, and non-profit organizations across the country who
provide employment placement, shelter, and other services to
homeless people to be on high alert to these scams."

The sixteen count indictment charges Buddy Vernon Frazier,

35; Chance Calvin Gaines, 24; and James Edward Bragg, 24 with
conspiracy and other crimes relating to the illegal removal of
asbestos materials. The three men were charged with violating
the federal Clean Air Act and fraudulently using social security
account numbers to obtain identification documents for untrained
asbestos workers.

If convicted, the three defendants each face up to five

years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines on the conspiracy
charge, and additional penalties for the other counts.

Asbestos is regulated under the Clean Air Act as a hazardous

air pollutant. Studies have shown that exposure to asbestos can
cause life-threatening diseases, including asbestosis; lung
cancer; and a rare cancer of the thin membrane lining of the
lungs, chest, abdomen, and heart, known as mesothelioma.

Under Clean Air Act regulations, asbestos containing

building materials must be removed from demolition and renovation
sites, without releasing asbestos fibers into the environment.
Among other things, workers must wet asbestos insulation before
stripping the material from pipes, and must seal the asbestos
debris in leak-tight containers while still wet, to prevent the
release of asbestos dust. The laws of most states have specific
requirements for asbestos workers. Wisconsin law requires that
all asbestos workers be trained in these and other applicable
rules and to carry identification cards indicating that they have
received such training.

The indictment charges Frazier, Gaines, and Bragg with

transporting workers recruited from the Community Kitchen, a
provider of services for the homeless in Chattanooga, Tennessee,
to Wisconsin, obtaining false identification cards for the
workers who had received no training, and knowingly causing them
to strip asbestos insulation without wetting it as required by
federal regulations. The charges relate to the removal of nearly
two miles of asbestos insulation in September, 1996, from the
former Weyerhaeuser Door & Stile Manufacturing Building in
Marshfield, Wisconsin.

"This case is significant because the offenses alleged show

a disregard for the environment and public health and a
willingness to exploit vulnerable people for a few dollars," said
Peggy Lautenschlager, United States Attorney for the Western
District of Wisconsin.

Federal prosecutors have brought several recent cases

involving similar facts.

On April 1, 1998, a federal court in Seattle, sentenced

Howard Angell to two years for improperly
removing asbestos from a building in Seattle.
Angell used homeless men and day laborers to
do the work.

On April 2, 1998, Stephen P. Draper plead guilty in

federal court in Concord, New Hampshire, to improperly
removing asbestos from a old asbestos manufacturing
plant. At least one of the workers was homeless.
Draper is scheduled to be sentenced on July 20, 1998.

On January 7, 1998, a federal judge in Miami,

sentenced two men, Arthur Newman and Lawrence
Rothman, to five months in prison for illegally
stripping asbestos materials from an industrial
warehouse in Miami. The two used homeless men to
do the work.
 On September 11, 1997, a federal court in
Connecticut sentenced Jacobv Benshimon, to 21
months in prison for illegally strip asbestos
insulation from pipes beneath a large apartment
complex in Groton, Connecticut. Benshimon
recruited day-laborers to do the job.

On November 26, 1996, a federal court in Tampa

sentenced a local businessman, Jay Davidson Foley,
to six months in prison for illegally removing
asbestos from various portions of an historic
hotel in Sarasota, Florida. The court also
imposed a $235,000 fine on Foley's business, Foley
Holdings Corporation. Foley used unskilled
temporary workers to do the work.

On February 8, 1996, a federal court in

Philadelphia sentenced a New Jersey real estate
developer, Mohammed Mizani, to 18 months in prison
for illegally removing asbestos from a 14-story
commercial building in Philadelphia. Two other
men were also charged and sentenced in connection
with this case. Mizani recruited a crew of men
from a nearby homeless shelter to perform the
work.

In response to these and similar cases, the Department of

Justice and the EPA have joined with the National Coalition for
the Homeless to issue an advisory to be posted in homeless
shelters around the country. The advisory warns about the
dangers of asbestos in building materials and cautions workers to
be on guard for employers who offer work tearing out old asbestos
materials without providing workers with adequate notice,
equipment, or training. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development also will distribute the advisory to homeless
shelters and to transitional housing for the homeless.

This case was investigated by the Environmental Protection

Agency Criminal Investigations Division and the Social Security
Administration Office of Inspector General, with assistance from
the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Wisconsin
Department of Health and Family Services. This case is being
prosecuted by United States Attorney's Office in Madison and the
Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division.

An indictment represents charges brought to a federal grand

jury. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty
at trial beyond a reasonable doubt.

If you suspect someone is hiring workers to remove asbestos

improperly, please call EPA at 1-800-368-5888.

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OTHER RECENT ASBESTOS CASES:

Federal prosecutors also have brought the following related

cases involving the illegal removal of asbestos by untrained
workers:
 On April 6, 1998, in federal district court in
Anchorage, Mountain Aviation of Sitka, Alaska, and the
company's operations manager Mark Hackett plead guilty
to improperly removing asbestos. Hackett hired
untrained teenagers to clean up asbestos debris from
the improper asbestos removal.

Hackett and the company have not yet been

sentenced. As part of a plea agreement, the
company has agreed to pay a $50,000 fine and
to establish a trust fund for medical
monitoring of the teenagers.

On March 30, 1998, in federal district court in

Seattle, Gundhart Fleischer, president of Voyager's
Landing Corporation, plead guilty improperly stripping
asbestos from the Seayue Theater in Blaine, Washington.
He hired a 19 year old itinerant to do the work.
Sentencing is scheduled for June 12, 1998.

On March 10, 1998, a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh

indicted David Farley, supervisor of Red Bank Valley
Schools in New Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for improperly
removing asbestos from the Red Bank Valley High School.
Farley hired untrained workers, including high-school
age workers to do the work.

On October 3, 1997, a federal court in Clarksburg, West

Virginia, sentenced David Marshall, a contractor and
licensed asbestos-removal operator to fifteen months in
prison for demolishing an apartment building without
first properly removing asbestos materials. Marshall
hired three young untrained workers to do the
demolition. As part of a supervised-release term, the
court also prohibited Marshall from further
participation in demolition contracting and from
renewing his asbestos removal license.

On September 26, 1997, a jury in Brooklyn convicted

Isaac Itzkowitz for improperly removing asbestos
insulation from hundreds of feet of piping in an
apartment building in Brooklyn. Itzkowitz hired
untrained workers to rip out the asbestos. Itzkowitz
has not yet been sentenced.

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