United States Attorneys' Office
District of Minnesota

PRESS RELEASE.

Monday, May 8, 2006

Contact: Rachel K. Paulose, United States Attorney (612) 664-5600

Karen Bailey, Media Coordinator (612) 664-5610

Minneapolis - A former chemist at a Fridley-based metal plating company was sentenced today in United States District Court in Minneapolis for violating the Clean Water Act and tampering with environmental testing equipment.

Ted Matthew Gibbons, age 38, from White Bear Lake, Minnesota, was sentenced to 18 months in prison by Judge Donovan Frank. In addition, as a condition of Gibbons’ one year of supervised release, he is prohibited from working in the area of water testing and compliance.

As a chemist for ECO Finishing Co., Gibbons was responsible for analyzing ECO Finishing’s wastewater discharges and reporting those results to Metropolitan Council Environmental Services (MCES).

During his sentencing hearing, Gibbons admitted that he knowingly failed to report all laboratory testing of the company’s discharges to MCES, as required by its permit. He also admitted that on two occasions, while MCES was conducting its periodic sampling of ECO Finishing’s wastewater discharge, he removed the top of an ISCO sampler and poured out some discharge captured by the sampling device. On one of the occasions, he replaced the removed volume of water with tap water in an attempt to make the discharge appear cleaner than it actually was. On a second occasion, Gibbons removed the discharge sample but was unable to refill the vial because an MCES employee was entering the facility.

Assistant United States Attorney Bill Koch commented, “The sentence in this case should provide assurance to the public that there is a meaningful punishment for those who would knowingly violate our environmental laws.”

The case is the result of an investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Criminal Investigation Division, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Bill Koch prosecuted the case.