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Saturday, November 05, 2005

Ind. Law - Ex-state DNR worker admits fraud

"Ex-state worker admits fraud: Inspector says he created fake records for Illinois oil-well contractor" is the headline to a complicated story reported today in the Evansville Courier& Press by Maureen Hayden. Some quotes:

A former state employee said Friday he paid more than $100,000 in kickbacks to a former owner of an environmental company hired to clean up leaking oil wells in western Vanderburgh County.

Former Department of Natural Resources inspector Donald G. Veatch, 54, of Francisco, Ind., admitted in court Friday that he created bogus documents to hide that he was funneling federal funds to an oil-well company that he owned at the same time he was employed as an oil and gas inspector for the state.

Veatch said the scheme also involved falsifying inspection records for Mount Carmel, Ill., oil-well contractor Carl F. Hanisch.

Hanisch pleaded guilty Friday to federal charges of falsifying documents regarding oil-well cleanup projects in western Vanderburgh County. The charges, detailed in court documents and in testimony in U.S. District Court on Friday, involve 39 abandoned oil wells and six tank batteries along Bayou Creek - which feeds into the Ohio River - and 53 abandoned oil wells and seven tank batteries on property now owned by Jacob's Village, a residential center for the developmentally disabled. * * *

In court, Veatch did not name the person who he said received the money. [Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven DeBrota] declined to name the person, saying he remains under investigation. But state environmental regulators said Friday that one of the persons still under investigation is Tim Boisture, who is a former project manager and part-owner of Environmental Consulting & Engineering Co., and founder of Subcon LLC.

Boisture, who now lives in Sacramento, Ky., said he created Subcon LLC several years ago. He said he knew Veatch but never got any money from him. When asked about court documents detailing payments from Veatch's oil-well company, MJM Co., to Subcon LLC, Boisture said he had no knowledge of the payments. "I'd have to say I have no other comment until I can look at the documents involved and review all the facts," he said. Boisture said he had not been contacted by federal prosecutors about the case.

DeBrota said the investigation, spearheaded by a joint federal and state Environmental Task Force is ongoing. Task force members include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, and the DNR's law enforcement division.

The story includes links to a 7-page outline of the "false plugging and abandonment reports scheme," and to the 8-page "Information" (indictment), dated 11/2/05. Both are scanned documents.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 5, 2005 09:43 AM
Posted to Indiana Law