Alabama Man Imprisoned for Counterfeit Pesticides

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Subject:  Alabama Man Imprisoned for Counterfeit Pesticides
     Date:  4/26/2004
    From:     Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com) (www.thebestcontrol.com)

To:     Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
          Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation 

 

Alabama Man Imprisoned for Counterfeit Pesticides

WASHINGTON, DC, April 26, 2004 (ENS) - An Alabama man has been handed more than three years in prison and a $45,000 fine for for selling counterfeit and misbranded pesticides to municipalities in Alabama and Georgia for mosquito and West Nile Virus control.

The Justice Department announced that William C. Murphy of Glencoe, Alabama was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 41 months in prison, ordered to pay $45,300 in restitution, and was given three years supervised release

In January, shortly before his trial was to begin, Murphy pled guilty to a 28 count indictment charging him with having manufactured and sold counterfeit pesticides by using registered brand names that he had no authority to use in the marketing of chemicals he mixed and packaged in an Anniston, Alabama warehouse.

Murphy, operating under the name Sierra Chemical, sold imitations of brand name pesticides which bore labels falsely identifying the brand name, manufacturer, or active ingredients to the following municipalities: Enterprise, Linden, Alexander City, Brundidge, Jacksonville, Oneonta, Talladega, Weaver, Cullman, Pell City, Union Springs, Tallassee - in Alabama, and Lee County, Georgia, according to the indictment.

Murphy, who has been held in prison since his arrest in May, could have received a maximum fine of $2 million and imprisonment of up to 10 years for violating federal trademark protection laws, and a fine of up to $100,000 per count and imprisonment of up to one year per count for violation of federal pesticide control laws.

“This case is an example of how state and federal agencies can work together effectively to bring to justice those who violate the environmental laws that both the state and federal governments have a responsibility to enforce,” said Thomas Sansonetti, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.

“The sentence imposed in this case demonstrates the seriousness of environmental crimes, and my commitment to protecting the public from those who perpetrate such crimes,” said U.S. Attorney Alice Martin.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Resident Agent in Charge David McLeod said, “Murphy's sentence should send a clear message to those persons who think they can get away with undermining the regulatory system that is intended to ensure the safety and efficacy of the pesticides sold in this country."

 

 

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