Two companies accused of charging customers thousands of dollars for removal of asbestos-contaminated materials from their homes and buildings and then illegally dumping or abandoning the waste in Arapahoe and Weld counties have pleaded guilty to felony charges and agreed to pay $1 million in fines.
Tri State Environmental Group and Aftermath Cleanup & Remediation Services LLC were fined $500,000 each and their owner, James Joseph Duran, 48, was fined $2,538 and sentenced to 500 hours of community service and six years of probation by an Arapahoe District Court judge, according to the Colorado Attorney General’s office.
According to the grand jury indictment, Duran’s companies dumped, stored and abandoned waste over a three-year period that began in January 2009 in violation of Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment regulations. The case was investigated by the state health department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The indictment claims Duran’s companies acted as remediation contractors or subcontractors for asbestos removal from buildings in Windsor, Littleton and Greeley. Instead of properly disposing of the hazardous materials, Duran dumped the waste in incorrectly marked bags or in several cases, abandoned the material in roll-off trash containers that belonged to other companies.
“Unsafe disposal of asbestos endangers human health,” Jeffery Martinez, the EPA’s special agent in charge of criminal investigation in Colorado, said in a news release. “This sentence is some measure of justice for the communities, businesses and individuals impacted by the defendant’s conduct.”
Duran also is accused of failing to pay subcontractors he hired to do abatement and and demolition projects under contracts with the city of Littleton and with the owners of a community corrections dormitory complex in Greeley known as The Villa.
“Unsafe disposal of asbestos endangers human health,” Jeffery Martinez, the EPA’s special agent in charge of criminal investigation in Colorado, said in a news release. “This sentence is some measure of justice for the communities, businesses and individuals impacted by the defendant’s conduct.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939, hpankratz@denverpost.com or twitter.com/howardpankratz
