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HOUSTON BUSINESSMEN SENTENCED IN ASBESTOS CASE
Release Date: 04/19/2001
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FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2001
Eric Kung-Shou Ho and Manuel Robles Escobedo, both of Houston, Tex., were sentenced on April 11 for Clean Air Act violations. Ho was ordered to pay a $20,000 fine and to serve two months of community confinement and six months home confinement as part of two years probation. In a related civil case he was ordered to pay over $1 million in penalties for improper asbestos removal. Ho hired undocumented workers from Mexico to scrape asbestos-containing fireproofing from metal beams in Houston’s abandoned Alief General Hospital. The defendant directed the workers to work at night in order to avoid detection, but an explosion at the work site alerted investigators. Ho was convicted of failing to notify the Texas Department of Health that he intended to remove asbestos from the site and he was also convicted of failing to implement required federal asbestos work practices. Failing to follow asbestos work practices can expose workers to the inhalation of airborne asbestos fibers which can cause lung cancer, a lung disease known as “asbestosis” and mesothelioma which is a cancer of the chest and abdominal cavities. Escobedo will serve four months home confinement as part of one year probation and pay a $1,000 fine for making a false statement while testifying during a civil trial concerning Ho’s asbestos abatement activities. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center. Prosecution assistance was provided by the FBI and the Houston Police Department’s Environmental Investigations Unit. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Houston.
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