Bronx Man Pleads Guilty to Asbestos Violations
A New York resident who removed asbestos from a Paterson, NJ church without a license and allowed dangerous fibers to circulate throughout the building has pleaded guilty to violations of the Federal Clean Air Act and faces a total of three years in prison.
According to an article in The Herald, Tyrone Maple, age 51, of the Bronx section of New York, removed asbestos insulation at Friendship Baptist Church without a license and without observing federal and state laws intended to protect health and safety. One of the affected parts of the church housed the Whole New World Daycare Center.
Maple is a member of the church and a boilerman who has worked at various jobs throughout the area. Though he was not licensed for asbestos abatement, he made a contract with the church and charged them $6,200 for the work, which was performed last December.
When a church member complained of dust and said he suspected asbestos contamination, church officials hired a company to test the air quality inside the building. The company found unacceptable levels of asbestos on the first floor, including in the area that houses the daycare center. The church closed for several days and a licensed abatement professional was brought in to clean up the dust.
Peter Aseltine, spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, said exposure could be significant because the elevated levels of asbestos in the building existed during a period of almost two months before being discovered and cleaned up.
“This crime could have posed serious health risks for the young children in that day-care center,” state Attorney General Anne Milgram said in a written statement. “To turn a profit, this defendant took chances with families who had few affordable alternatives for child care.”
