Former Lab Manager Accused of Falsifying Report to Upper Moreland-Hatboro Joint Sewer Authority

A former lab manager of a Douglassville-based company has been charged in connection with allegedly falsifying environmental testing reports furnished to the Upper Moreland-Hatboro Joint Sewer Authority. 

Debbie Ann Wanner, 45, of Reading, has been charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia. According to a press release, while working for Blue Marsh Laboratories, between September 2005 and August 2006, she allegedly “aided and abetted” in the preparation and submission of fraudulent environmental test reports to the local sewer authority.

The accusations against Wanner stem from monitoring and water sample testing that Blue Marsh Laboratories conducted on the sewer authority’s treatment plant into Pennypack Creek.

In addition to allegedly tampering with reports for the Upper Moreland-Hatboro Joint Sewer Authority, Wanner is accused of having falsified similar reports for the Gloucester County Utilities Authority and Upper Merion Township in connection with the analyses and testing of water samples for various types of pollutants, which these entities were required by law to report to the Environmental Protection Agency. 

If convicted, Wanner faces a maximum sentence of six years in prison, a $750,000 fine, and one year supervised release.

According to a press release posted on the U.S. Department of Justice Web site, on April 28, Michael McKenna, owner/president of Blue Marsh Laboratories, was indicted by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on 84 counts of fraud and false statements in conjunction with environmental laboratory testing.

It was not clear Tuesday where that case stood.

Patch was unsuccessful in reaching Upper Moreland-Hatboro Joint Sewer Authority Chairman George W. Lewis Tuesday for comment on Wanner’s charges.

According to its website, the Upper Moreland/Hatboro Joint Sewer Authority services more than 10,000 customers in its coverage area of Hatboro and Upper Moreland, as well as residents in the eastern tip of Horsham, the northern portion of Upper Dublin, the southern section of Warminster, and Masons Mill Business Park in Bryn Athyn.