Lab operators get prison in water-testing fraud

The companies said water samples were safe, but authorities say they didn't perform the tests.

By ROBERT FARLEY, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 3, 2002

In what is thought to be the first prosecution of its kind in Florida, a Pinellas-Pasco circuit judge last week sentenced the operators of two local laboratories to 31/2 years in prison for falsifying water quality test results for a number of local cities, including Tarpon Springs and Dunedin.

Prosecutors said the labs, which were shut down by authorities in 1996, never actually performed the tests.

Babatunde Daramola, 54, and Taiwo Julius Igbinosun, 61, pleaded guilty in May 2001 to racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering and organized scheme to defraud. In addition to the prison sentence, Circuit Judge Mark I. Shames tacked on 10 years of probation.

The companies, Tri-County Environmental & Analytical Laboratory Inc. and Erejan Environmental Laboratory, contracted with Tarpon Springs, Dunedin, Port Richey and other cities, as well as utilities, mobile home parks, schools and businesses in Pinellas, Pasco, Hillsborough, Citrus, Hernando and Sumter counties to test water samples to assure compliance with federal and state drinking and waste water regulations.

The companies provided false results suggesting the water samples were safe from pesticides, fecal coliform, radioactive substances such as radium 226 and 228, and other volatile organic contaminants.

All of the systems have since been tested and are safe from those contaminants, said Scott Peterka, a case agent with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

But there's no way to tell whether harmful contaminants in some drinking water went undetected at the time of the falsified tests, Peterka said.

Testifying at the sentencing hearing on March 22, environmental engineer David Parker of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told the judge "this was an egregious case creating a great public health risk because of the severe health impacts of these contaminants."

Fecal coliform, for example, can cause diarrhea, stomach disorders and even death, particularly among the elderly and very young, Peterka said.

"There could be deaths attributable to these tests not being performed," Peterka said. "There's no way of knowing."

"It's hard to assess the potential danger," said Norman Vik, now of the Hillsborough Water Department. "We can't say no one was harmed, and we can't say anyone was harmed."

The case came to light when an employee with a private water plant questioned some results provided by a company called Chemlab, operated Martin Kwesi Sakyi-amfo, Vik said. The employee asked for supporting documentation to show which firms it had subcontracted with to perform tests Chemlab was not licensed to perform. The lab never responded, Vik said.

In January, a trial against Sakyi-amfo, 41, of 13143 Village Chase Circle in Carrollwood, ended in a hung jury. Igbinosun testified at that trial. Sakyi-amfo will be retried in July.

The case against Daramola and Igbinosun, both natives of Nigeria but now U.S. citizens who lived in Tampa, involved reviewing thousands of records, Peterka said.

The prosecution included just a sampling of the falsified records, Vik said. The databases suggested there were more than 1,000 violations, he said. The amount charged for the falsified tests amounted to $60,000, he said.

The tests would have been fairly inexpensive to subcontract out properly, Peterka said.

"That's one of the things that's sad about this," he said.

The bacteria tests go for $6 each; pesticide tests run $300 to $400; and radiation tests go for $50 to $200.

Vik said he hopes the prosecution sends a message, both to the public and to laboratory owners.

"You always hear rumors that people cheat at laboratories," Vik said.

But when this case came to regulators' attention, he said, they went after it.

"I would like to have that message get out," Vik said. "After all the work put into this case, to see it come to this conclusion feels real good."

-- Robert Farley can be reached at (727) 445-4185 or farley@sptimes.com.

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