Former Indiana Water Treatment Plant Superintendent Pleads Guilty to Falsifying Reports

Former Indiana Water Treatment Plant Superintendent Pleads Guilty to
Falsifying Reports

WASHINGTON, June 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Herbert L. Corn, the former
superintendent of the city of Rochester Wastewater Treatment Plant in
Rochester, Ind., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in South Bend,
Ind., to falsifying monthly discharge monitoring reports that concealed
violations of the Clean Water Act at the Rochester plant, the Justice
Department announced.

Corn pleaded guilty to a five-count felony information charging him with
making false statements in discharge monitoring reports submitted to the
Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM). He admitted that from
September 2004 and continuing through May 2007, he submitted at least five
reports containing false data for treated water that is discharged from the
Rochester plant into Mill Creek, a tributary of the Tippecanoe River.

Under the federal Clean Water Act, which is administered and enforced by IDEM
as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), before discharging
the waste water it collects to Mill Creek, the Rochester plant must treat the
water to meet concentration limits on certain pollutants as set forth in its
permit. Three pollutants in the permit that have concentration limits are
Escherichia Coli bacteria (E. Coli), Ammonia NH3-N and Carbonaceous Biological
Oxygen Demand-5 (CBOD). The discharge of pollutants above the concentration
limits for these pollutants is a violation of the permit and the Clean Water
Act. The Rochester plant is required to report and certify the results of its
discharge sampling on a monthly basis to IDEM.

As part of the plea agreement, Corn admitted that on at least five separate
occasions from September 2004 and continuing through May 2007 he reported
levels in the discharge reports submitted to IDEM that indicated the levels of
E. Coli, Ammonia NH3-N, and CBOD-5 were in compliance with the permit
concentration limits when he knew in fact they were not.

"All citizens should be confident that their civil servants are providing
accurate reports and abiding by laws meant to protect the environment," said
John C. Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's
Environment and Natural Resources Division. "The prosecution in this case
demonstrates the coordinated effort of federal, state and local officials to
investigate and prosecute those violating the nation's environmental laws."

"Accurate information about a community's water quality is essential to
protect the public health and the environment," said Randy Ashe, Special
Agent-in-Charge of EPA's criminal enforcement program in Chicago. "Those who
submit false reports or bogus data undermine those efforts and they will be
vigorously investigated and prosecuted."

"Certified wastewater operators are entrusted with the public health and must
be held fully accountable to fulfill their duties, including honest and
accurate reporting," said IDEM Commissioner Thomas Easterly. "IDEM inspectors
work hard to identify and correct problems, and coordinate with our state and
federal partners to ensure the protection of Hoosiers and our environment. We
thank the staff of the U.S. Attorney's Office, the U.S. Department of Justice,
and the U.S. EPA's criminal enforcement division in Chicago for their help in
this case."

As a result of the felony conviction, Corn could be sentenced up to two years
in prison and fined up to $250,000 for each count.

The criminal charges arose from a criminal investigation jointly undertaken by
the Criminal Investigation Division of the EPA and the IDEM Office of Criminal
Investigation, which are part of the Northern District of Indiana
Environmental Crimes Task Force. Members of the task force include:

-- U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Indiana
-- Environmental Crimes Section of the Department of Justice
-- EPA -- Criminal Investigation Division
-- Department of Homeland Security -- U.S. Coast Guard Investigative
Service
-- Federal Bureau of Investigation
-- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
-- U.S. Department of Transportation -- Office of Inspector General
-- U.S. Department of Labor -- Office of Inspector General
-- Indiana Department of Environmental Management -- Office of Criminal
Investigations
-- Indiana Department of Natural Resources -- Law Enforcement Division
-- Indiana Attorney General's Office

-- Indiana State Police

The Task Force encourages citizens in the Northern District of Indiana to
report environmental crimes to 312-886-9872 or at the Web site
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/complaints/index.html.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Toi Denise Houston,
Special Assistant U.S. Attorney David P. Mucha and Environmental Crimes
Section Trial Attorney Gary N. Donner.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Justice, +1-202-514-2007, TDD: +1-202-514-1888