Roofers Dumped Asbestos On WI Land, Defrauded Prison: Feds

OXFORD, WI — A Texas-based roofing company is accused of defrauding a federal prison in Wisconsin and dumping dangerous asbestos-containing materials.

Brazos Urethane, Inc. — a Texas City, Texas company — was charged Friday with conspiracy to defraud the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).

The charge against Brazo will be dismissed if:

• The company pays a monetary penalty of $300,000 (the amount of money Brazos attempted to save by engaging in illegal dumping )
• Brazo completes a three-year corporate compliance program to prevent further contract fraud violations and federal environmental laws.

"Brazos dumping hazardous material on a residential property wasn’t just dangerous for the community, it was defrauding the United States government," said William J. Hannah, an agent with the Department of Justice.

"The public can rest assured that the asbestos has been properly removed and disposed of, and that Brazos is being held accountable for its actions."

Brazos contracted with the BOP in 2014 to replace roofs on buildings at the Oxford, Wisconsin Federal Correctional Institution (FCI Oxford) for nearly $4,000,000, according to authorities.

The roofing project involved the abatement of asbestos-containing materials and required special removal procedures to guard against asbestos contamination, investigators said.

Brazos promised it would follow all federal and state laws regarding the removal of hazardous waste and obtain all necessary permits from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, according to authorities.

However, Brazos dumped roofing waste materials containing asbestos from the FCI Oxford worksite onto a residential property it purchased near the prison in early 2015, investigators said.

Brazos concealed this illegal dumping from the BOP and Wisconsin DNR, then lied about its cleanup efforts once the company was caught, according to authorities.

In 2022, Brazos was ordered by the Wisconsin DNR to properly and completely clean up the roofing waste. The cleanup project cost Brazos $480,000 and took three weeks to accomplish, authorities said.