Two former leaders of a Conroe lab that tests wastewater and a compliance coordinator face federal conspiracy charges for allegedly falsifying results to conceal dangerously high levels of fecal contamination in Houston-area waterways.
Two former managers of a Conroe lab and a compliance coordinator from a different company are facing federal conspiracy charges. Prosecutors say they faked wastewater test results to cover up dangerously high levels of fecal bacteria in Houston-area waterways.
The indictment says that Derek McCoy, the former CEO of North Water District Laboratory Services, and Deena Higginbotham, the director of client services, worked with John Montgomery, a compliance coordinator who oversaw more than two dozen local water boards, to change official reports sent to state and federal regulators.
Montgomery told the lab to change the data on test results that showed dangerous amounts of pollutants, like E. coli, according to US prosecutors. McCoy and Higginbotham allegedly used remote desktop software and internal databases between 2021 and 2023 to fabricate dozens of reports.
Court papers indicate that Harris County was the site of the majority of the alleged fraud. There were at least 14 tests that were changed to show E. coli and 13 that showed significant microbial activity. More cases were found in Fort Bend, Montgomery, Hays, and Comal, which are the counties that are involved. The indictment does not say which treatment plants were dumping poorly treated effluent into rivers and bayous.
Julie Nahrgang, executive director of a wastewater industry group in the state, said, "Falsifying results like this puts the public at risk of coming into contact with unsafe water."
Defense lawyers have fought back. Gary Tabakman, McCoy's lawyer, said that his client quit in February 2024 to safeguard the lab's image and "fully understands how serious the claims are." Higginbotham and Montgomery's lawyers did not respond to calls for comment. Montgomery was let go last year, and the two companies have since stopped working together.
Environmental groups said the case shows problems with a self-reporting system that depends on private labs and contractors to make sure people are following the federal Clean Water Act.
Kristen Schlemmer, the legal director for Bayou City Waterkeeper, said she was worried that the permitting system could be corrupt.
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