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PA TWO KENTUCKY MEN SENTENCED FOR SHAM RECYCLING SCHEME

Release Date: 02/06/98
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, FEB. 6, 1998
TWO KENTUCKY MEN SENTENCED FOR SHAM RECYCLING SCHEME

On Jan. 23, Robert Sechan, co-owner of Environmental Management Associates Inc. (EMA), was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh, to serve a year and a day in federal prison, serve three years probation, pay a fine of $5,000 and pay $45,600 in restitution to the state of Kentucky. Robert Sechan had previously pleaded guilty to three counts of bribery and one mail fraud charge. Charles Sechan, a second co-owner of EMA, was sentenced to six-months home detention, a fine of $10,000 and three years probation for his previous guilty plea for attempting to bribe an FBI agent posing as an Arizona environmental official. The defendants operated a facility in Ashland, Ky., where they claimed they were recycling petroleum-contaminated soil by mixing it with asphalt to produce a road repair product. However, they were not recycling the soil, and they provided false documents to customers which claimed proper disposal of the soil. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the FBI, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection.

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