Former Freedom Executive Gets Jail Time

A former Freedom Industries executive is headed to prison. So far the sentences for Freedom executives have stopped at probation, but Dennis Farrell was sentenced Thursday to one month in federal prison and fined $20,000 in U.S. District Court. The January 2014 spill of a coal-cleaning agent into the Elk River in Charleston prompted a tap-water ban in nine counties for up to 10 days. Judge Thomas Johnston noted Farrell could have acted to ensure that better spill-prevention measures were taken. Farrell was a former owner of Freedom and served as its president from October 2001 through December 2013, after which it was sold and he continued to work for the company in a management role. Ex-company President Gary Southern is scheduled to be sentenced next week.