Teresa Libera
202-564-7873
Pittsburgh, KANSAS – OCTOBER 31, 2002
On Oct. 16, Terian Koester, former owner of QWAL Laboratories in Pittsburgh, Kan., was sentenced to 18 months incarceration and fined $2,000 after previously pleading guilty to mail fraud and making false statements in violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA). The defendant had admitted that his laboratory deliberately falsified tests performed on water samples performed for clients who had CWA discharge permits. Koester received an 18 month sentence for each violation, to be served concurrently. The sentence will be followed by two years of supervised release. False results can cause water to be discharged into the environment with higher than permitted levels of pollutants. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigations Division with the support of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center and was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Kansas City.
