DIRECTOR OF PUERTO RICAN ISUZU DISTRIBUTOR
AGREES TO PLEAD GUILTY TO A FELONY VIOLATION OF CLEAN WATER ACT

EméRito Estrada-Rivera Dumped Gasoline Mixture Into Public Storm Drain

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO - Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division; Peter J. Murtha, Director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training; H.S. Garcia, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico; and Luis Fraticelli, Special Agent in Charge for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Puerto Rico, announced today that Isuzu de Puerto Rico, Inc., and its Chairman of the Board, Digno Emérito Estrada-Rivera have agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge of violating the Clean Water Act by knowingly discharging a pollutant from a point source into navigable waters of the United States without a permit.

An EPA and FBI joint investigation revealed that on March 31, 2001, Estrada-Rivera instructed Isuzu de Puerto Rico employees to illegally pump a mixture of water, gasoline and petroleum products from two underground storage tanks into a storm drain near Kennedy Avenue in San Juan, which was connected to the public storm drain system, which emptied into the Puerto Nuevo River, the Martín Peña Creek and the San Juan Harbor.

“We will not tolerate these type of illegal discharges into the San Juan Harbor,” said Assistant Attorney General Thomas L. Sansonetti. “These discharges can result in injury to the environment and to the health of Puerto Rico’s citizens.”

“The appropriate removal of underground storage tanks is vital to protecting our surface and ground water,” said Peter J. Murtha, Director of EPA’s Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training. “When people consider evading these requirements to unlawfully improve their bottom line, they had better also factor in that they run a genuine risk of being detected and criminally prosecuted.”

For several months before the incident, Estrada-Rivera was negotiating a deal with a company in Detroit, which was to pay him approximately $2 million to lease the Kennedy Avenue property for a new dealership. After an environmental survey revealed the presence of two underground storage tanks full of water and gasoline/petroleum products, the new company requested that the defendant remove the tanks from the site. Estrada-Rivera agreed to properly remove the tanks. The removal costs were estimated by the would-be lesee at approximately $40,000.

Despite the agreement, Estrada-Rivera removed the tanks without following the proper procedures and directed Isuzu employees to pump the contents of the tanks into a storm drain located inside the automobile dealership.

Under the proposed plea agreement, Estrada-Rivera has agreed to serve a one-year term of probation with a condition of six months’ home detention and to pay a $50,000 fine. Isuzu de Puerto Rico has agreed to serve a three-year term of probation, pay a $125,000 fine and reimburse the local Fire Department and the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board for the costs they incurred to assist federal agents in the execution of a search warrant.

Estrada-Rivera has also agreed to an increased sentence for obstruction of justice. He admitted to giving a false account of the discharge incident to EPA and FBI criminal investigators and writing a letter to the agents containing false information. Estrada-Rivera admitted that he met with Isuzu de Puerto Rico employees and induced them to lie to the federal investigators.

The case was investigated by the EPA’s Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by the Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes Section in Washington, D.C.

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