Ex-top official of East Orange water agency gets 3 years in prison
Formerly the chief engineer for Ridgewood Water.
TRENTON — A former top official of the East Orange Water Commission was sentenced to three years in prison today for hiding elevated levels of an industrial solvent in drinking water pumped to more than 80,000 residents in the city and neighboring South Orange.
William Mowell, 52, of Wyckoff, pleaded guilty in July to conspiring with the agency’s former executive director, Harry Mansmann, to falsify levels of tetrachloroethene to show the water was safe to drink, the state Attorney General’s Office said.
As part of his sentence, handed down by state Superior Court Judge Carolyn Wright, Mowell will be permanently banned form public office and public employment in the state.
