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Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet
Two indicted on forgery, perjury charges in alleged scheme to defraud environmental cleanup fund
FRANKFORT, Ky. (Jan. 23, 2007) - Two people who allegedly sought to falsify ownership of an underground petroleum storage tank, and thereby have the cost of its removal and site remediation paid from a special state environmental fund, have been indicted in Todd County.
A grand jury at Elkton returned identical four-count indictments against Marvin Michael Vanhoose, of Versailles, and Licia Ruth Lykins, of Salyersville.
Both are application consultants who work with tank-removal companies. Each was charged with single counts of first-degree perjury, second-degree forgery, second-degree complicity to forgery and knowingly submitting a false document to the Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet (EPPC). All are Class D felonies.
The grand jury charged that Vanhoose and Lykins persuaded a previous client living in the area to sign an "application for tank removal assistance" as purported owner of a tank on the site of a former gas station at Trenton. In fact, the site was owned by the city of Trenton, according to investigators from the EPPC’s Office of Inspector General (OIG).
The purpose of the application was to have the cost of the Trenton project - estimated at $5,184 - borne by the EPPC Small Operator Tank Removal Account, a fund created to help low-income owners of small gas stations. The OIG investigation is continuing.
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