Texas Man Imprisoned for Asbestos Violations

February 7 , 2007 - A Dallas, Texas man, who was convicted in August 2006 for failing to comply with Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) regulations and mail fraud, has been sentenced in a Dallas federal court to 15 months in prison.

According to an account in the North Texas News, Melvin Eugene Riecke II, age 53, is the General Manager of National Converting and Fulfillment Company, based in Ellis County, Texas.  In a case that involved wrongful handling of asbestos-containing floor tiles, Riecke was convicted on “two counts of failing to comply with federal work practice standards regulating demolition of a building containing asbestos and disposing of the resulting waste, one count of false statements to the Texas Department of Health, Toxic Waste Control Division, and one count of mail fraud.”

In 2002, Riecke was accused of dumping asbestos waste on a 3.5 acre lot in an industrial area of West Texas.  The waste came from a building demolished by Riecke’s company, known to contain asbestos before demolition began. 

Riecke and his crew removed the floor tile from the demolition site without making any effort to comply with federal work practice standards that had been established under the Clean Air Act for handling asbestos, notes the article.  Riecke failed to have at least one employee on site who was licensed for asbestos removal and also “failed to prevent the discharge of visible emissions into the outside air during the stripping, collection, processing, packaging and transporting of the asbestos; failed to deposit all the asbestos as soon as practical at a proper waste disposal site; and failed to properly mark vehicles used to transport the asbestos-containing waste.”

Riecke will begin serving his sentence on February 20, 2007.