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PA FORMER LOUISIANA RESIDENT SENTENCED FOR ILLEGAL METHYL PARATHION APPLICATION
Release Date: 05/01/98
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, MAY 1, 1998
FORMER LOUISIANA RESIDENT SENTENCED FOR
ILLEGAL METHYL PARATHION APPLICATION
ILLEGAL METHYL PARATHION APPLICATION
On April 28, Lee Poole, formerly of Houma, La., was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in Flint, Mich. The court ordered Poole to serve two years in prison and pay $2,189,000 in restitution for federal emergency clean up costs that resulted from his crimes. Poole previously pleaded guilty to two counts of illegally applying the restricted use pesticide methyl parathion to homes in the Houma area. Poole’s actions resulted in a $2.1 million emergency clean up of these homes by EPA’s Region 6 Emergency Response Branch. Poole was an uncertified pesticide applicator who illegally sprayed homes with methyl parathion in February 1996, despite two previous enforcement actions taken against him by the state of Louisiana for improper and unlicensed use of methyl parathion. Methyl parathion is acutely toxic and is approved only for outdoor use where it breaks down due to sunlight. When applied in homes, methyl parathion can retain its toxicity to the nervous system for years, and can cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, cramps, weakness, blurred vision, difficulty breathing, muscle spasms, convulsions, coma and even death in humans and domestic animals. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the FBI, Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry and the Louisiana State Police.
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