New York Men Sentenced to Federal Prison for Asbestos Violations

Utica, N.Y. - In the culmination of an asbestos abatement scam that began in 2005, two upstate New York men were recently sentenced for their role in the illegal activity that centered around fraudulent asbestos removal and disposal practices. Convicted last year, Utica residents John Wood, 57, and Curtis Collins, 50, had engaged in serious criminal activity by, among other things, conspiring to falsify air quality test results in order to conceal the two men's improper removal and/or disposal of asbestos, a known cancer-causing agent.

According to government prosecutors, Wood and Collins were both responsible for performing asbestos removal and abatement procedures that left significant amounts of the hazardous material in areas where human exposures were either possible or had actually occurred. Wood, who is the owner of J. W. Construction, Inc., and Collins-owner of Adirondack Asbestos, and a former employee of Wood, both conspired with a Plattsburgh, N.Y. man, Mark Desnoyers, 53, to violate the Clean Air Act by falsifying asbestos air quality tests directly related to their fraudulent asbestos removal "rip and run" scam.

Asbestos is a mineral that can be commonly found in many regions of the United States, as well as in numerous countries around the world. Asbestos can be located in the ground or in exposed outcroppings, and it exists in various colors, chemical compositions, and types-asbestos in any form, is considered to pose a risk to the health of animals and humans.

Asbestos was once widely used in products such as automobile brake components and numerous building materials, though, use of the hazardous substance is now largely prohibited in countries around the world. In the 1970s, scientific investigations confirmed the fact that exposures to asbestos could lead to serious respiratory diseases such as the dreaded killer, malignant pleural mesothelioma, an aggressive and incurable form of lung cancer. As a result of these findings, stringent state and federal laws were passed to ensure the safe handling of this extremely hazardous material.

As charged in their conviction, Wood and Collins had contaminated a number of private residences and commercial structures with asbestos, one of these buildings having been Utica's Strand Theater. Due to the asbestos contamination, the Strand's planned renovation suffered an eight month delay. The two men were also charged with the illegal burial of asbestos on a local farm, an act that cost thousands of dollars to clean up.

The federal prosecutor sought to identify the individual who had committed the most serious offenses, and he eventually focused on Plattsburgh's Desnoyers. Desnoyers is the owner of Adirondack Environmental Associates (AEA), and of the three who were convicted of various offenses, it is Desnoyers who faces the largest fine and the most prison time. While Wood was sentenced last week to four years in federal prison and a court ordered $854,000 in restitution payments to defrauded clients, and Collins received only two years confinement and $115,00 in restitution, Desnoyers-who will be sentenced on Mar. 13-faces 25 years to life in prison and up to a $1.25 million fine.

Because of the serious threat to health posed by improper asbestos handling procedures, and because Desnoyers, as an air quality professional, actually performed fraudulently documented air quality tests, the government believed he was the most culpable of the three coconspirators. The relatively light sentences handed to Wood and Collins were partly due to the pair's plea agreement that required them to testify about Desnoyers' involvement in the crimes.

It should be noted that Wood received a harsher sentence than Collins, due to Wood's additional conviction on contempt charges that stemmed from the man's continued involvement in the asbestos removal scheme while he was being prosecuted for the offense. Both Wood and Collins were also sentenced to three years of federal supervision to be completed subsequent to their release from prison.

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