(Boise) – Attorney General Lawrence Wasden has announced a Twin Falls County man was sentenced Monday, June 22, for multiple offenses after doctoring environmental tests.
73-year-old Saiid S. Dabestani, of Twin Falls, pleaded guilty in October 2019 to four counts: forgery, offering false or forged instrument for record, computer crime and an environmental quality violation. All but the environmental quality violation are felonies.
Fifth District Court Judge Roger B. Harris sentenced Dabestani to a unified sentence of ten years with two years fixed for the forgery charge and granted withheld judgments on the remaining charges. The judge then suspended the sentences and placed Dabestani on eight years probation. He also ordered the defendant to pay court costs and $318,985 in restitution to seven former clients. The payments range from $3,881 to $176,037. The restitution amounts reflect the fees landowners paid Dabestani.
Dabestani owned Enviro-Mont Consulting, a soil and water remediation consulting firm. An investigation revealed he forged several lab reports by changing project names and testing results to facilitate his clients’ receipt of “Certificates of Completion” and/or “Site Closure Letters” from the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.
In at least one instance, Dabestani sent soil and water samples to a third party lab for testing. When he received the results, he altered them by reducing the concentration levels of multiple contaminants to ensure that they fell within DEQ’s acceptable screening levels.
Deputy Attorney General David Morse in the Attorney General’s Special Prosecutions Unit prosecuted the case.
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