A Fresno man and two associates are ordered to pay $1.8 million dollars to workers deliberately exposed to asbestos.
Defendants, Joseph Cuellar of Fresno; Patrick Bowman of Los Banos, and Rudolph Buendia, of Planada, were ordered to pay a total of $1,801,832.50 in restitution to 65 victims exposed to airborne asbestos as a result of demolition work done at the former Castle Air Force Base in Atwater.
Cuellar, his associates and Firm Build, Incorporated directed student workers to illegally remove debris containing asbestos, knowing the students had neither the training nor the proper safety equipment … according to court documents , the prosecutors say the defendants in this case willfully exposed the high school students from the Workplace Learning Academy and other workers at the job site, and their respective families to dangerous and potentially deadly carcinogens.
