A Jefferson County contractor was convicted of multiple felonies this week after hiring unlicensed workers who exposed an Arvada neighborhood to asbestos.
Lance Slayton was paid more than $70,000 to fix up a fire-damaged unit and abate asbestos at an 82-year-old’s fourplex rental property in 2022, according to a news release from the state attorney general’s office.
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State investigators later found that Slayton’s companies improperly removed and dumped the cancer-causing insulator, endangering workers and residents. Slayton also left the job unfinished.
On Thursday, a jury found Slayton guilty of criminal exploitation of an at-risk person, theft from an at-risk person and intentionally causing and contributing to a hazardous-substance incident, all felonies. He also was found to have violated the Air Quality Control Act.
“This case highlights the grave consequences of putting profit over safety and the well-being of our most vulnerable citizens,” state Attorney General Phil Weiser said in the release. “This conviction reinforces our commitment to safeguard public health, protect older Coloradans from scams and hold fraudulent contractors accountable.”
Slayton is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 20. Another defendant in the case, Christina Becker, will appear in court Dec. 9.
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