James Joseph Duran, owner of both Tri State Environmental Group and Aftermath Cleanup & Remediation Services LLC, pleaded guilty to felony charges for violating Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment regulations. Duran was indicted for illegally dumping asbestos-containing materials after hiring abatement subcontractors and charging customers thousands of dollars to do the work properly.
The contaminated waste was removed from homes and buildings in Windsor, Littleton, and Greeley and discarded in Arapahoe and Weld counties over a three-year period that began in January, 2009. According to the indictment, Duran disposed of the materials in roll-off garbage receptacles belonging to other companies and mislabeled bags of refuse to hide the fact that he was unlawfully disposing of the toxic debris.
Duran was sentenced to 500 hours of community service, six years of probation, and was ordered to pay a fine of $2,538. His sentencing, handed down by an Arapahoe District Court judge, is in addition to each of the companies being fined $500,000. Duran has also been accused of neglecting to pay the abatement subcontractors he hired.
“Unsafe disposal of asbestos endangers human health,” said EPA special agent Jeffery Martinez, who led the criminal investigation. “This sentence is some measure of justice for the communities, businesses, and individuals impacted by the defendant’s conduct.”
Asbestos exposure can lead to a variety of respiratory health problems and is the primary cause of mesothelioma, an aggressive type of cancer that has an extremely low survival rate, with only 10% of its victims surviving five years after diagnosis. Despite a decades-long ban on asbestos, there are approximately 3,000 mesothelioma diagnoses made each year.