The U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General today announced a 31-count indictment charging seven Louisiana firms and their executives with violations of the Clean Water Act. The OIG has protection of the environment as one of its top investigative priorities and was working as part of an environmental task force composed of the FBI, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard. La. The six subdivisions are known as Thoroughbred Park, Magnolia Park, Midway, Plantation Trace, Oak Grove and Tara subdivisions.
Prosecutors say the alleged failures led to pollution of nearby waterways.
In an effort to conceal their poor maintenance and operation, the defendants allegedly submitted false monitoring information to the EPA and fabricated the existence of a laboratory. The intentional discharge of sewage into navigable waters is a criminal act that must be investigated and prosecuted. Named in the conspiracy charge are Glenn K. Johnson, Montell Watkins, and Carol Rowell, present and former executives of Johnson Properties, Inc., the largest operator of wastewater treatment facilities in the state. A related company, C.J. Cox Construction Company, Inc., of Brookhaven, Miss., also was named. Inc. The indictment further charges Johnson with witness-tampering and obstruction of a criminal investigation for his alleged attempts to bribe a witness to withhold material information from criminal investigators.