Developer Gets 4 Years In Prison For Violating Asbestos Handling Laws

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A developer has been sentenced to four years in prison for violating asbestos handling laws during the renovation of an apartment complex in the San Fernando Valley.

A Los Angeles federal judge sentenced Charles Yi on Monday. Yi, whose company owned the Forest Glen apartment complex in Winnetka, was convicted on March 29 of five felony counts including conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act and failing to provide proper notifications to the Environmental Protection Agency and the South Coast Air Quality Management District about a renovation involving asbestos.

Yi was also convicted of failing to provide properly trained personnel, to properly remove the asbestos and dispose of the material. Asbestos can cause lung cancer.

Air regulators received complaints about the renovation in 2006 and shut it down.

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