Rita Lavelle

Rita Marie Lavelle (born 1946) is a United States and California State Republican political figure. In 1984, Lavelle was convicted on federal charges of perjury related to an investigation into misuse of the United States Environmental Protection Agency's "Superfund" money during her tenure with the agency, and irregularities at the Stringfellow Acid Pits, a major hazardous waste site. The Lavelle incident was labeled "Sewergate" by the newspapers at the time. In 2004, Lavelle was convicted on federal charges of one count of wire fraud and two counts of making false statements to the F.B.I. Lavelle committed these crimes in her personal business of environmental consultation.

In 1969, Lavelle earned her bachelor's degree in Biology and Mathematics, with a minor in chemistry, from Holy Names University in Oakland, California. She continued her graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley in physiological chemistry and stoichiometry. She earned a master's degree cum laude in business administration from Pepperdine University in 1980.

From 1969 to 1976, she was the California State Consumer Affairs Department information officer, state director of consumer education, and publications assistant in the office of then-Governor Ronald Reagan. She was director of marketing for Intercontinental and Continental Chemical Corporation in Sacramento, California, from 1976 to 1978. Lavelle's responsibilities included development of corporate guidelines to comply with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, a law that her later position at the EPA left her to administer nationwide compliance with by both business and government sectors.

Beginning in 1978, Lavelle initiated, directed and managed several programs for Aerojet-General Corporation subsidiaries; these included programs for divisions which manufactured chemicals and industrial and chemical intermediates, nuclear and chemical waste treatment systems, liquid rocket engines for the aerospace industry, and high-speed marine propulsion systems for defence applications.

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