N.J. Electrical Company Employee Pleads Guilty to Defrauding the Environmental Protection Agency at Superfund Site

The U.S. Department of Justice reports in its press release (quotation, not an independent finding): “WASHINGTON — An employee of a Sewell, N.J., company that provided temporary electrical utilities pleaded guilty today to participating in a fraud conspiracy at an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-designated Superfund site in New Jersey, the Department of Justice announced today. Christopher Tranchina pleaded guilty to a charge filed today in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey. Tranchina was charged with conspiracy to defraud the EPA at the Federal Creosote site, located in Manville, N.J. The clean up at the site is partly funded by the EPA. Under an interagency agreement between the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, prime contractors oversaw the removal, treatment and disposal of contaminated soil, as well as other operations at the Federal Creosote site. According to the charge, from approximately the Spring of 2001 until approximately June of 2005, Tranchina and other co-conspirators thwarted the competitive bidding process and defrauded the EPA by inflating Federal Creosote invoices and paying kickbacks to an employee of a prime contractor at Federal Creosote. In exchange for the kickbacks, Tranchina’s employer received sub-contracts at the site. The kickbacks totaled approximately $138,000. As a part of the conspiracy, Tranchina received approximately $23,000 of the kickbacks, in the form of a hot tub, an HVAC system, cash and checks. "The Department of Justice will investigate and prosecute those who steal from the public by subverting the competitive bidding process, particularly where taxpayer dollars are involved," said Scott D. Hammond, Acting Assis”