An Essex man pleaded guilty late last week in Hartford to one count of making a false statement to the federal government.

According to court documents, Stephen Craig, 66, owned Boston Lead Co. LLC (BLC), a Connecticut corporation that provided industrial hygiene and safety services. Doing business as Environmental Training and Assessment (ETA), BLC offered a variety of training courses to individuals working with lead paint and asbestos. Craig was the training manager and a primary instructor for those courses, and his son, Matthew Craig, provided hands-on instruction and assisted with course administration, including the grading of examinations.

ETA offered a lead abatement training course at its Middletown facility in August 2011. Craig was the training manager and primary course instructor, and his son provided the hands-on training and graded the exams. An undercover EPA agent attended the course under a fictitious identity, seeking a lead abatement worker initial course completion certificate. The agent skipped the first two days of the course, and was two hours late on the third day. Thereafter, the agent attended the course for a total of approximately 15 hours, including approximately three hours of hands-on training. Craig was aware that agent did not attend the full training course.

At the conclusion of the course, the agent paid Craig $525 in cash and was allowed to sit for the lead abatement worker examination, which was proctored and graded by Matthew Craig. The agent intentionally failed the examination. Although Matthew Craig knew that the agent had failed the examination, Matthew Craig completed questions that the agent had left blank and corrected a sufficient number of incorrectly answered questions to bring the examination grade to a passing grade of 80 percent.

ETA issued a false certificate of completion to the agent on Aug. 12, 2011, that stated that the agent had successfully completed a 32-hour lead abatement worker initial training course and passed an examination in accordance with CT DPH standards.

“Asbestos and Lead removal training providers, like Stephen Craig’s businesses, are entrusted with keeping safe the supervisors, workers and the public that hire them,” Special Agent in Charge Tyler C. Amon said in a statement. “Sham trainers will continue to be a focus for EPA enforcement since they pose too great a risk to the public health.”