Former Nashua city employee to plead guilty on records violations

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

A former Nashua city employee who was recently charged in federal court with falsifying city water system tests almost five years ago has filed a notice he intends to plead guilty.

According to an indictment filed at the end of December in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, Jeffrey A. Smith, who was then operator-in-charge of the Nashua Water Supply, falsified documents submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that were supposed to report the results of daily chlorine concentration tests in the water supply, when in reality the tests had not been done.

The report listed four tests taken over two days that had not been done. Smith was charged with one count of making and using false documents.

On Tuesday, Smith’s attorney, Judith O’Donohoe of Charles City, filed notice in the federal court that Smith would plead guilty to the charge.

Nashua was operating its water system under a permit that had been issued by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, under the authority of the EPA and the federal Safe Water Drinking Act.

The Iowa DNR requires a public water system to have a certified operator monitor the drinking water supply for certain disinfectants, including chlorine, conduct daily testing of that disinfectant’s use, and submit groundwater monthly operation reports to the state, the indictment said.

As the operator-in-charge of Nashua Water Supply since 2016, Smith was responsible for testing the water, as well as completing, signing, and submitting the monthly operating reports to the Iowa DNR.

“On or about February 10 and 11, 2018, in the Northern District of Iowa, defendant Jeffry A. Smith did willfully and knowingly make and use false writings and documents, knowing the same to contain materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements and entries,” the indictment said.

It says that Smith reported that four chlorine samples had been taken on Jan. 20 and 21, 2018, in a Groundwater Monthly Operation Report that was submitted to the Iowa DNR in February. The report certified that it was “true, complete and accurate,” but those four tests had not actually been taken, the indictment says.

According to the notice to plead guilty, if a federal magistrate judge recommends the plea be accepted, a presentence investigation and report will be prepared and then a U.S. District Court judge will decided whether to accept or reject the guilty plea, and if the judge decides to accept it, the judge will impose sentence.