Philadelphia Man Charged in Asbestos Case

February 16, 2007 - The owner of a Philadelphia-based contracting company has been charged with violations of the Clean Air Act for illegally dumping asbestos waste in a vacant lot. 

The South Jersey Courier Post reports that Randall G. Cone, age 40, faces a maximum sentence of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine if he’s convicted of dumping asbestos in a parking lot in Camden, NJ, just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. 

Officials from the Environmental Protection Agency and the New Jersey State Department of Environmental Quality report that Cone filled a trailer with asbestos that his firm, R. Cone Environmental Services Inc., removed from a building under renovation in Philadelphia in 2000.  The trailer and its toxic contents were discovered nearly 5 years later in a lot on Camden’s Ferry Avenue. 

The U.S. Attorney’s office reports that the lot owner has already paid in excess of $18,000 to have the trailer removed.  He hopes to recoup the money for the removal when the case against Cone goes to trial later this year.