Tampa, FL-The project manager for an Indian Shore condominium conversion has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors as a part of his signed plea deal for his part in a federal crime, which involved an asbestos cover-up. Asbestos was discovered in the popcorn ceiling texture, but the builder and property owner decided it was too expensive to abate the asbestos, thus instead covering it with drywall, as reported by Tampa Bay Online.
James Roger Edwards has agreed to plead guilty for helping to cover-up asbestos violations, in addition to being an accessory after the fact to the violations, according to the plea deal filed in the U.S. District Court. In 2004, when Gannaway Builders employed Edwards, he was hired to convert the six two-story 164-unit Indian Pass Apartments on Gulf Boulevard into the Barefoot Beach Resort condominiums. After discovering the asbestos in the popcorn ceilings, they installed drywall to cover it up, because both the property owner and the builder decided it would be too costly to abate the hazardous and toxic material. In covering up the asbestos, the builder actually caused more damage by disturbing the asbestos. In June 2005, rain apparently damaged the ceilings in 10 of the units. Gannaway Builders allegedly told Edwards that the ceilings need to be removed as fast as possible so that they could remain on schedule, and that the ceilings were "under threshold" for asbestos. Heeding the instructions by his bosses, Edwards had the workers remove the asbestos-containing ceilings without any precautionary measures or proper abatement equipment, as required by law.
Federal investigators, who received a tip that workers were being exposed to asbestos, made a visit to the site the next month and issued several violations. Edwards then wrote three letters to federal regulators, in attempt to cover up the asbestos violations, which falsely claimed that Gannaway employees had properly handled the cancer-causing material.
News article by Asbestos Mesothelioma litigation attorneys: Cooney & Conway.
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