HARRISBURG- Agents from the Attorney General’s Environmental Crimes Section have filed criminal charges against an Elk County man in connection with alleged falsified environmental reports submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for the James City Sewage Treatment Plant. 

Attorney General Linda Kelly said the man charged is Charles Vaughn, 75, 426 Pennsylvania Ave., James City. Kelly said, Vaughn is a certified sewage treatment plant operator at the James City Sewage Treatment Plant, which is owned and operated by the Highland Township Municipal Authority.

Kelly explained that sewage treatment plants are required by law to monitor their discharge. Plant operators are required to measure the daily flow, pH level and total residual chlorine in the discharge, and report this information monthly to the DEP.

Monitoring is required to certify that the sewage treatment plants are operating within the legal limits that were established in order to protect water quality in the Commonwealth.

Kelly said that an investigation by agents from the Environmental Crimes Section determined that the James city Sewage Treatment Plant was being operated by a non-certified plant operator/trainee, and not Vaughn, the only certified operator.

According to the criminal complaint, an unauthorized bypas