Firm Admits Its Water Test Results Were Bogus

The head of a water testing company admitted turning in bogus water quality data for Lake Perris, three state prisons and several other facilities in San Bernardino and San Diego counties.

No one’s health was endangered, said Toby Roy, district water quality engineer for the state Department of Health Services. State authorities ran parallel tests during the investigation.

Beaches at Lake Perris State Recreation Area, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, were intermittently closed during the summer of 1997 due to high bacterial levels because authorities caught on to the scam, Chief Ranger William Dall said Thursday.

Thomas M. Brown Jr., president of Accutek Environmental Services Inc., pleaded guilty to one felony count of grand theft and was sentenced to 30 days at manual labor, as well as three months’ probation, Orange County authorities said.

Brown could not immediately be located for comment.

The fake data were submitted between March 1, 1996, and Feb. 1, 1997, Deputy Dist. Atty. Lance P. Jensen said.

The company, which used an Irvine post office box address, was “reporting that they were contracting with a certified laboratory because they weren’t certified,” Roy said. “But what we found out was the certified lab wasn’t doing the testing.”

Brown was also ordered to pay $3,000 in investigation costs and $200 restitution. His state contracts were canceled, and he was also disqualified from federal contracts.