* Roger Lowe Owner Of E&D Environmental Safety Training Inc. charged With Fraud

Published by Staff Writer on October 21, 2009

The owner of a Hayward-based safety consulting company has been indicted by a federal grand jury in San Francisco on charges of issuing sham training certificates for asbestos workers.Rogelio Lowe, also known as Roger Lowe, of Thornton in San Joaquin County, was indicted Tuesday on two counts of using the U.S. mail to further a fraudulent scheme and nine counts of making false statements on training certificates issued to his students.Lowe is the owner of E&D Environmental Safety Training Inc. of Hayward, which trains workers in handling asbestos and other hazardous materials.U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Jack Gillund said Lowe made an initial appearance before a federal magistrate in San Francisco today and was released on a $200,000 bond.Lowe is due to appear before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White, the trial judge assigned to the case, on Nov. 12. The indictment alleges that Lowe didn’t teach courses for the federally required number of hours,gave students answers to tests and forged test results for students who missed a day of class.Lowe nevertheless allegedly charged the workers’ employers the full price of $600 for a four-day course and issued false certificates for the students, according to the indictment.