Village officials indicted for lying to environmental regulators for more than 20 years

http://www.suntimes.com/news/7009581-418/crestwood-officials-indicted-in-tainted-drinking-water-scandal.html

Updated: August 11, 2011 2:47PM

Two former Crestwood Water Department officials were indicted Thursday on federal charges for lying to environmental regulators for more than 20 years about using a water well to supplement the village’s drinking water supply from Lake Michigan, prosecutors said.

Frank Scaccia, Crestwood’s retired certified water operator, and Theresa Neubauer, former water department clerk and supervisor and currently Crestwood’s police chief, each were charged with nearly two dozen felony counts, U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald announced in a press release. snip

The village told residents and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency it was only using Lake Michigan water after 1985, when it discovered a village well had been tainted by vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen. But regulators later discovered the village continued to use the well for as much as 20 percent of water for the village from 1985 to 2007. snip

Other lawsuits alleging wrongful death and personal injury still are pending.