HARRISBURG — Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane today announced her office has filed criminal charges against the former Steelton Water Treatment Plant superintendent, who is accused of failing to properly monitor filters at the plant and submitting false records.
Daniel P. Scheitrum, 42, 665 Woodview St., Steelton, is charged with two counts each of tampering with public records or information and violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
The Office of Attorney General’s Environmental Crimes Unit started an investigation of Scheitrum after receiving a referral from the state Department of Environmental Protection. The referral asserted that Scheitrum, the certified operator of the plant, intentionally reported inaccurate data related to drinking water testing to DEP.
The Attorney General’s investigation showed that to be true, according to a criminal complaint. One of Scheitrum’s responsibilities as the certified operator was to record individual filter effluent (IFE) every 15 minutes and to notify DEP any time the levels exceeded the levels specified in the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Scheitrum failed to record the data every 15 minutes, the complaint alleges. Moreover, he failed to record the IFE during a 108-day period in 2013 and submitted electronic reports to DEP during that period stating the IFE monitoring was being done as required, investigators allege.
Scheitrum was arraigned Thursday morning. His bail was set at $25,000 unsecured. A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled for July 31.
