BEF president gets six months house arrest for illegal dumping of pollutants

Elward "Ed" Brewer, president of BEF Corp., Allentown, Pa., was sentenced to six months of house arrest and 160 hours community service after he and the company pleaded guilty last fall to dumping silver and other pollutants into local sewer systems; and to the company illegally shipping products to Iran and falsifying export paperwork.

  U.S. District Judge James Knoll Gardner ordered Brewer and BEF to jointly pay $700,000; and to create a compliance program.

  For more details read the April 18 Newsline International at www.photomarketing.com.

**Reprinted from the PMA Newsletter April 20, 2005 issue

BEF Corp., president, plead guilty to dumping hazardous waste

After a four-year federal investigation, BEF Corp., Allentown, Pa., and its president, Elward Brewer, pled guilty in federal court Nov. 12 to dumping hazardous waste into sewer systems, and to illegally shipping products to Iran and falsifying export paperwork, enabling foreign customers to cheat on import taxes. The guilty pleas were accepted and sentencing will take place in February or March, Brewer's attorney, Robert J. Donatoni, told Photo Marketing Newsline.

He said BEF pled guilty because of conduct that occurred when Brewer and his wife, Emily, semi-retired six years ago to spend time in Florida. They left the day-to-day operations in the hands of two former employees, one of whom has since died, and the other is serving time in jail for stealing from BEF. "On their watch, these things happened. They did things attributable to the company," Donatoni said. "Ed was negligent in that he was not more hands on, and he owned up to this."

Donatoni said the Brewers and BEF are cooperating with officials and agreed to jointly pay $700,000 which includes fines, penalties and a $50,000 donation to an environmental organization. Brewer could be sentenced to a maximum of one year in jail, but Donatoni said he is confident this will not be the case.

Emily Brewer told Photo Marketing Newsline she and her husband have learned a valuable, hard lesson. The couple moved to Florida to be near her elderly mother, she said. "We left thinking everything was in place, and took our eye off the ball," she said. Although they will continue to live in Florida, they will go to Pennsylvania more frequently "and be much more hands on, staying on top of everything . .we have a lot of good employees and want to keep the company going," she said.

**Reprinted from the PMA Newsletter November 17, 2004 issue