United States (Missouri) - The new chief of the Northeast Ambulance and Fire Protection District was arrested Friday after being indicted on federal charges of bankruptcy fraud and violating the federal Clean Air Act. Fire Chief Joseph L. Washington, who resigned his seat as president of the Northeast board in July so that he could take the chief's job, was released after he appeared before a federal magistrate. He will be arraigned Tuesday.

According to the indictment, Washington failed to notify the Environmental Protection Agency of renovations that included the removal of asbestos from the district's offices at 7100 Natural Bridge Road, Beverly Hills, and then violated federal standards for removing the substance. He is charged with five counts of violating the Clean Air Act.

He is also charged with two counts of lying on federal bankruptcy documents about his wife's income.

Washington had no comment when reached Friday.

The district, which provides fire and ambulance service to 15 north St. Louis County communities and the University of Missouri St. Louis, has been rife with controversy and ill feeling since April 2007, when control of the board swung to a majority led by Washington.

The Post-Dispatch has reported that since then, the district's legal fees have far exceeded those of other districts, and last month the state attorney general and auditor sued the district, accusing it of violating the Sunshine Law and refusing to turn over records.

In June, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources accused the fire district of several asbestos-related violations involving the Beverly Hills office and offered to settle the matter out of court for $70,000.

Elbert Walton Jr., attorney for the district, had told the state agency that the district "generally denies each and every allegation." He also wrote that the district "has a Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches of its administrative offices."

In recent months, several district residents have been ejected and banned from meetings. Those ejected have all been critical of the board. Among those ejected and banned for a year was resident Pat Gaddess.

"I'm hoping that this is the beginning of getting some honesty in government back in our community," Gaddess said Friday. "God knows we need it."

Lawyer Kris Boevingloh was arrested before a recent meeting.

"We've been fighting this for over two years now," Boevingloh said Friday. "We're hoping this is just the first step. There are a whole lot of other people who need to be indicted to clean up the whole operation over there. ... We're all very happy that the first shoe has fallen."

Boevingloh previously sued the board on behalf of several district residents alleging Sunshine Law violations. And last month, he was arrested outside a fire board meeting after trying to enter the meeting wearing a T-shirt that read, "Vote No on Prop Y." Proposition Y was the name of a failed $10.7 million bond issue the board put before voters four times in a year's time.

Written by St. Louis Post-Dispatch