Kelly
HARRISBURG, Pa. (Legal Newsline) - Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly announced Tuesday that agents from the Environmental Crimes Section filed charges against a Delaware man.
Attorney General Linda Kelly said the defendant is Michael Bostic, of Townsend, Del. He allegedly falsified environmental reports submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for the Fox Valley Sewage Treatment Plant located in Delaware County.
Kelly explained that sewage treatment plants are required to monitor discharge. The sewage treatment plant operators measure the daily flow, pH level and total residual chlorine in the discharge. They then report this data monthly to the DEP. This monitoring ensures water quality is maintained.
The AG said ECS investigators determined on two occasions during the summer of 2010 that the mandated daily testing had not been conducted at Fox Valley.
Evidence and testimony was presented to a statewide investigating grand jury, which recommended the criminal charges. According to the grand jury, on July 25, 2010, and Aug. 29, 2010, the defendant failed to conduct the tests, and then recorded false test results. The grand jury found that Bostic submitted the false test results to DEP in the monthly Discharge Monitoring Report.
Bostic is charged with one count of tampering with public records, one count of unsworn falsification to authorities and one count of unlawful conduct. He was preliminarily arraigned released on $25,000 unsecured bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 6.
The case will be prosecuted in Delaware County by Senior Deputy Attorney General Brian Coffey of the Attorney General's Environmental Crimes Section.
Neither anyone from Fox Valley Sewage Treatment Plant nor Bostic could be reached for comment.