Year in Prison for Michigan Scrapper in Asbestos Release

A federal judge in Grand Rapids, Mich., has sentenced a suburban Detroit man to a year in prison for conducting a salvage operation at an asbestos-filled building without protecting workers and the environment from the toxic insulating material.

Federal agencies say Judge Robert Holmes Bell also ordered 34-year-old Anthony M. Davis of Canton to pay $168,000 in restitution for violating the Clean Air Act.

Authorities say Davis bought a former paper mill in Otsego to salvage scrap material from a powerhouse building containing large boilers and turbines.

They say he had workers collect scrap without wetting the asbestos with water and collecting it for proper disposal.

The Environmental Protection Agency says that released a significant quantity of asbestos from several floors of the building.