Connie M. Knight, previously of Belle Chasse, La., was sentenced to serve 57 months in prison in New Orleans federal court for providing fraudulent hazardous waste safety training in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and spill. Knight also was ordered to pay victim restitution in the amount of $25,300.
Knight impersonated a high-ranking OSHA hazardous waste safety instructor and inspector in order to collect money from workers who hoped to work on the cleanup effort that followed the spill. Knight created and used multiple false federal identifications to bolster her credibility as an OSHA employee and to convince attendees, who were primarily from the Southeast Asian fishing community, that she could ensure them lucrative employment cleaning the spill. In reality, Knight did not have any connection to OSHA or to the cleanup effort, nor did she have training in hazardous waste safety.
“On the heels of the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history, Knight illegally profited from a community already suffering from the impacts of the oil spill by impersonating a federal official and raising false hopes for employment. For that she is being held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The Department of Justice is committed to environmental justice and will vigorously prosecute those who victimize vulnerable communities.”
In January, Knight pleaded guilty to three felony criminal charges and one misdemeanor criminal charge for creating false identification documents and impersonating a federal official.
“Knight took advantage of an environmental disaster and the resulting vulnerabilities of an immigrant community,” said Dana Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana. “Her callous crime focused on her financial gain, ignoring the potential harm to the restoration of the Louisiana coastal region.”
Daniel R. Petrole, Deputy Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General said Knight’s sentencing sends “a strong message to those who would intentionally engage in fraudulent activity that compromises the integrity of the Department of Labor’s OSHA program.”
Scam Artist
Knight claimed her classes satisfied the various safety requirements that all individuals were to complete in order to be employed at a Deepwater Horizon hazardous waste cleanup site. Her fraudulent classes, however, lasted as little as 2 hours, while the legitimate certifications would take at least 6 days of classroom training followed by 3 days of on-site training. At least some attendees later gained access to hazardous waste cleanup sites based on the fraudulent certifications created by Knight.
“OSHA will not tolerate fraudulent training or unscrupulous activity when workers' health and lives may be at stake,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Dr. David Michaels. “Inadequate training jeopardizes the safety and health of workers cleaning up hazardous waste sites.”
At the sentencing, Federal District Court Judge Lance Africk considered statements from victims who recounted how Knight targeted the Southeast Asian fishing communities in southern Louisiana, many of whom did not speak or read English. Court documents explained that because many shrimp grounds were closed from the time of the spill through late 2010, Gulf fishermen had to seek other means of employment. To gain access to these fishermen and their families, Knight convinced young bilingual individuals from Southern Louisiana, who believed her to be an OSHA trainer, that she could be a source of employment for their struggling communities. She then used those individuals to publicize her trainings throughout the Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian neighborhoods.
According to court documents, Knight required each attendee to pay between $150 and $300 cash to enter a class, and there were at least 950 victims in the Eastern District of Louisiana. After a short presentation in English, Knight would provide false completion certifications and tell attendees to ready their vessels for BP cleanup work, which she claimed would be coming any day.