Man Pleads Guilty to Exposing Children to Asbestos

New York – July 18, 2008 – A Bronx man pleaded guilty this week to unsafe handling of asbestos. The man removed asbestos from a church using unsafe methods that released dangerous asbestos dust and fibers into nearby areas, including a day care center.

Tyron Maple, aged 51, is a member of the church who is employed in New York as a boiler repairman.

According to the state Attorney General’s office, Maple faces a sentence of up to three years in state prison, after entering a guilty plea before Superior Court Judge Marilyn Clark. Maple pled guilty to knowingly causing the release of a toxic polluting substance.

The incident that sparked charges took place when Maple removed a quantity of asbestos insulation from the Friendship Baptist Church on Park Avenue in Paterson. Maple removed the asbestos without a license, and without following the strict state and federal laws that are designed to protect public safety.

Maple’s unsafe practices also affected an area of the church that is leased to Whole New World Daycare, putting children at risk for developing asbestos-related diseases such as asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma.

The state Division of Criminal Justice Environmental Crimes Bureau investigated the incident and found that Maple was not licensed to carry out the work. Despite the lack of licensing, Maple signed a contract with the church to remove asbestos insulation and performed the work in December 2007 at a cost of $6,200. The work involved removing the insulation from steam pipes to allow the pipes to be repaired.

Subsequent complaints from a member of the church’s congregation prompted the church to have the air monitored in February 2008, and the air tests showed increased levels of asbestos throughout the church’s first floor. Following the discovery the church was closed for several days to allow removal of asbestos dust by a licensed contractor.

The Attorney General’s office spokesperson, Peter Aseltine, could not comment on the health risk the occupants of the church faced, but said that the church building may have had elevated levels of airborne asbestos for just under two months.

In a written statement, state Attorney General Anne Milgram said, “This crime could have posed serious health risks for the young children in that day care center. To turn a profit, this defendant took chances with families who had few affordable alternatives for child care.”

According to a number of scientific studies, children are more susceptible to asbestos exposure than adults. Asbestos exposure during youth can result in the development of asbestos-related diseases much quicker than being exposed as an adult. Diseases such as mesothelioma can take anywhere from 15 to 50 years to develop as a result of adult exposure, but this latency period is greatly reduced among children exposed to asbestos.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 18th, 2008 at 3:30 pm and is filed under Asbestos Exposure, Asbestos Litigation, Mesothelioma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. Responses are currently closed, but you trackback from your own site.