The State - News from Nov. 12, 1987

In what may be the first criminal charge in the state stemming from the alleged mishandling of hazardous asbestos debris, a Northern California prosecutor has filed three misdemeanor charges against a contractor. If convicted, Vernon Genn, owner of Marfield Co. Inc., could be fined as much as $55,000 and jailed for up to 18 months, according to the Alameda County district attorney’s office, which filed the misdemeanor action based on a complaint from tenants in a building owned by the International Order of Odd Fellows. The charges accuse the Berkeley contractor, hired to clean asbestos out of public areas, with mishandling debris and exposing his workers to asbestos hazards.