Owner of Demo Firm Pleads Guilty in Federal Court

Gary Fillers, the owner of the demolition and salvage firm Watkins Street Project LLC, based in Chattanooga, Tenn., has pled guilty in federal court for conspiring to violating the Clean Air Act’s work practice standards related to the proper stripping, bagging, removal and disposal of asbestos. He pled guilty in federal court in Chattanooga.

According to the charges, Fillers and other indicted and unindicted co-conspirators, engaged in a year-long scheme in which substantial amounts of regulated asbestos containing materials was removed from a building without following the Clean Air Act and the regulations governing Environmental Protection Agency notification requirements; removing all asbestos prior to demolition; and stripping, bagging, removal and disposal of such asbestos.

Fillers faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. The plea is related to the indictment of Watkins Street Project LLC, Mathis Companies Inc., Donald Fillers, James Mathis and David Wood. Trial is currently set to begin on Nov.18, 2009.