Attleboro Business Man Sentenced For Falsifying Results Of Harzardous Material Testing

BOSTON – The owner of a North Attleboro company that tests compressed gas cylinders was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Worcester for falsifying the re-testing of thousands of cylinders.

Aaron Beauchesne, 37, of Attleboro Falls, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to six months home confinement, followed by two years of probation and $77,953 in restitution. In May 2013, Beauchesne pleaded guilty to failing to test and falsifying the results of almost 6,000 compressed gas cylinders for numerous customers in the South Shore area.

Beauchesne was the sole owner of Beauchesne Fire Equipment which tested and certified fire extinguishers and other compressed gas cylinders, such as oxygen tanks, for public and private customers. Under the Federal Hazardous Materials Transportation Law, cylinders used to transport compressed gasses must be requalified periodically to determine the structural integrity of the cylinders and to identify dangerous or nonperforming cylinders. Beauchesne Fire Equipment was certified by the U.S. Department of Transportation as an approved requalification facility for retesting and requalifying compressed gas cylinders. Throughout 2011 and continuing through early 2012, Beauchesne frequently failed to conduct hydrostatic testing and/or instructed employees to forego the testing on thousands of compressed gas cylinders.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Theodore L. Doherty III, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of the Inspector General, Office of Investigations, made the announcement today. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney S. Theodore Merritt of Ortiz’s Public Corruption Unit.