Prosecutors criminally charged Ledesma and two other officials for allowing the ash into the country.

He said he was acquitted in that case, but in a civil case brought by environmental groups, he was sentenced to six months in jail. His sentence was suspended.

Lab tests by Greenpeace International showed that the material was safe, Ledesma said.

``I have a Ph.D. in environmental science and natural resources from the University of Florida,'' he said. ``I defended myself with the only weapon I have: the science.''

For its part, AES declined to answer specific questions on the case.

``A lawsuit filed by the Dominican Republic on fly ash was settled in early '07,'' AES spokeswoman Meghan Dotter said in an e-mail. ``Pursuant to the settlement agreement, the Dominican Republic stated that the material was not harmful to humans or the environment or otherwise, but that the material should be handled properly.''

Diane Paolicelli, an attorney for the residents, said lab results that showed the ash was safe were taken from samples hand-selected by AES and did not come from the beach. And the report from Greenpeace showing contamination levels were normal also said clean samples did not rule out toxicity elsewhere.

Lab results from engineers hired by the plaintiff's attorney will show the soil -- even today -- has contaminants that are several times higher than they should be, Paolicelli said.

THE CASES MOUNT

Robert Vance, who filed the suit with Steve Phillips of Levy Phillips & Konigsberg in New York and Ian Conat of the Bifferato law firm in Wilmington, Del., sent medical experts to the town.

``Over 1,000 people got sick,'' said Vance, who accompanied The Miami Herald on a visit to the area. ``We tested 42 people, and more than half of those tested had abnormal, unsafe levels of arsenic in their blood.''

For now, they are representing only severe cases, although he said hundreds complained of rashes and allergies.

Among the clients is María Rosa Andujar, who gave birth to a deformed child who died last year.

``The baby's lips were all cracked, and he died after half an hour,'' Andujar said. ``All these problems we are having is something new that came after the rock ash. If it was because of that, then we need to resolve this because it's important. I'm eight months pregnant, and I'm nervous.

``I think this town is contaminated.''

Chalas, the prosecutor, acknowledges that his office and the Health Ministry did not investigate early reports of skin and breathing problems.

``It wasn't the focus at the time,'' he said. ``We were focused on the environmental impact, and nobody ever did the studies necessary. Thinking about it now, we could have done more.''