The former chief executive officer of a New London pharmaceutical company received three years probation, a $30,000 fine, and 300 hours of community service for knowingly violating the U.S. Clean Water Act.
Thomas Faria, former president of CEO of Faria Limited, doing business as Sheffield Pharmaceuticals pleaded guilty in July to discharging wastewater without a permit. The company is now under new management and is compliant with all the provisions of the Clean Water Act.
From 1986 to 2011, Faria Limited – doing business as Sheffield Pharmaceuticals, maker of creams, ointment, and toothpastes – regularly discharged its wastewater into the New London public system without a permit, in violation of the Clean Water Act. The company did not treat the waste before dumping it into the system or make reports to the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection about the discharges.
When Faria took over as CEO in 2003, his workers urged him to get the permit, but he declined to do so upon realizing the costly upgrades that must be made to the company’s wastewater equipment. The discharges continued until 2011 when DEEP officials made an unannounced inspection.
Faria resigned as CEO of the company on March 7, and as part of his guilty plea, he can have no role in the operations or management of the firm.
Faria faced up to three years in prison and a $150 million fine. He lives in Portland, Ore.
