Georgia Commercial Shipper Sentenced for Hazmat Violations
On Feb. 26, both Ngu David Tran and his company TransDesign Inc., of Forest Park, Ga., were sentenced in U.S. District Court, Atlanta, with the illegal transportation of hazardous materials. Tran was sentenced to serve five years' probation and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service. His company was sentenced to serve five years probation, fined $119,000, assessed an administrative penalty by the Federal Aviation Administration in the amount of $137,500, and ordered to pay an additional assessment of $1,200.
The sentence resulted from Tran and TransDesign's guilty plea on Oct. 30, 2008, to three counts of illegal transportation of hazmat in air commerce. On Aug. 20, 2008, Tran and his company were indicted for shipping chemicals via United Parcel Service and Federal Express on multiple occasions without declaring the chemicals as hazmat. His activities were discovered when a shipment leaked onboard an aircraft causing the entire aircraft to be unloaded and cleaned. These chemicals were seized by FAA and turned over to DOT/OIG as evidence.
DOT's investigation was conducted jointly with FAA's Southern Region and Hazardous Materials & Dangerous Goods Division.