December 27th, 2006

A county worker from Auburn, NY, was arrested late last week after he was found to have threatened the life of a witness in relation to an illegal asbestos removal case. Sixty-four year old John Chick was then arrested for obstruction of justice after threatening to kill the man who blew the whistle on his illegal removal of asbestos.

Chick had been indicted earlier in the week for the illegal asbestos removal, which allegedly took place at a building in Cayuga County. The incident is said to have taken place last February. Anthony Garropy, the whistle blower in the incident, was present during the illegal removal, and it is alleged that Chick knew that he had reported the incident to authorities and that he intended to testify against him in court.

According to court reports Chick later threatened to put Garropy ‘in his grave’ if he received a hefty sentence as a result of the man’s testimony. Over thirty people have now filed notice of claim against the county for possible exposure to asbestos, one of which is Anthony Garropy.

Chick has been indicted on a number of counts, each of which could result in a quarter of a million dollar fine as well as five years in prison. This includes six counts of violating the Clean Air Act, one count of conspiring to violate the federal Clean Air Act, and three counts of making falsified statements to investigators.