Business Owner Imprisoned for Improper Asbestos Removal

August 1, 2006 - A Philadelphia-area business owner was fined $5,000 and sentenced to 24 months in prison for failure to comply with federal and state requirements concerning the removal of asbestos.  In particular, Wallace Heidelmark was cited for “improperly removing asbestos from several locations between 2001 and 2004 without using adequate water during the removal, and not keeping the removed asbestos adequately wet.”  Heidelmark was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $41,541.17 for asbestos violations.

Indoor Air Quality, Inc., the Phoenixville company owned and operated by Heidelmark, was also sentenced to two years probation, and was ordered to pay a $100,000 fine, a special assessment of $1,200 and restitution in the amount of $41,541.17, according to an article in Chief Engineer magazine.

Officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency note that the restitution ordered by the court will pay for medical examinations for employees of the company and will also reimburse certain homeowners who had subsequent air testing performed.

"These defendants are now being held accountable for exposing people to the health risk," said Pat Meehan, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in which the case was prosecuted. "There are significant dangers associated with the improper removal of asbestos. That's why there are laws governing how it is removed and disposed of."

Records indicate that the defendants operated a scheme to defraud homeowners by promising to use certain proper removal techniques in removing asbestos from their residences. They routinely failed to use these approved techniques and it was found that they consistently falsified air testing at the conclusion of asbestos removal jobs by sending blank, unused air sample canisters to a testing lab instead of canisters which had actually collected an air sample at the residence where the removal job occurred. The defendants would then tell the homeowners and business owners that the building's air had passed the post-removal air test.