July 11th, 2005

A man that has been found guilty of asbestos related offenses has been slated by his own son. The top construction executive was involved in a fraudulent operation involving asbestos removals. He was found guilty of the fraud in 2002, and it was revealed that the fraud was committed on over 1,500 asbestos removal projects, one being at the school of his own son.

Thomas Reed, Jr. said of his father, Thomas Reed, Sr.: “My father makes me sick. He falsified asbestos results at my school. While I attended, no less. I wish my father would fall off the face of the earth. Putting him in prison will be the closest I get to that." The judge evidently agreed with the latter part of the son’s statement, sentencing Reed Sr. to twenty-five years in prison for his part in the fraud.

Fifty-year-old Reed Sr. was a general manager for a construction firm when the fraudulent activities took place. The two owners of the firm have each been sentenced to twenty-five and nineteen years respectively, as well as being fined over twenty million dollars. Charges included violations of federal environmental laws and racketeering. Reed Sr. confessed to a secret lab that was used to falsify test results in asbestos removal cases.

Reed was also ordered to pay nearly $160,000 in back child support after going on to admit that he had been trying to play clever and under-reporting his income to get out of paying child support. The cash will now go to the child as back pay.