In the first criminal prosecution for violating the Toxic Substances Act, a NY inspector admitted in court that he made up hundreds of asbestos and lead tests between 2001 and 2009 and never actually inspected the buildings that he was charged to evaluate.
"EPA has also found that inhalation of asbestos can cause lung disease and cancer, and classified asbestos as a known human carcinogen. New York City has rules and regulations intended to reduce human exposure to asbestos fibers. Among other things, those rules and regulations require that, prior to the commencement of certain demolition and other projects, an inspection be performed by a New York City certified asbestos investigator to determine whether asbestos is present and, if so, how much and what kind, and whether the asbestos will be disturbed during the project. One purpose of the inspection is to determine whether or not the project is to be an "asbestos project" which requires the filing of a notice with the City and an abatement prior to commencement of the project. If the project is determined not to be an asbestos project, New York City rules and regulations require that a certified asbestos investigator complete, sign, and affix his or her asbestos investigator seal to a form captioned "Not an Asbestos Project," known generally as an ACP-5, and file that form with the City prior to issuance of a building permit and commencement of the project.
"Until approximately February 17, 2004, Todara was a New York City-certified asbestos investigator, which authorized Todaro to inspect buildings for asbestos and to prepare and file -3 ACP-5s. On or about February 17, 2004, however, the City of New York suspended Todaro's asbestos investigator certificate, after which Todaro was prohibited from performing building inspections for asbestos and from preparing and filing ACP-5s in the City of New York.
"However, despite the suspension of his asbestos investigator certificate, Todaro continued to prepare ACP-5s for filing with the City of New York regarding building projects taking place throughout the city. On numerous occasions, Todaro did so without actually performing an inspection of the premises identified in the ACP-5. In order to make it appear that inspections had actually been performed by a certified asbestos investigator, Todaro prepared backdated ACP-5s that falsely represented that he had performed an asbestos inspection and that he had done so prior to the suspension of his asbestos investigator certificate. Todaro submitted bogus ACP-5s, together with invoices describing the services provided as "Inspect/ACP5," to his customers, at least some of whom billed customers of their own for Todaro’s purported services. Certain kinds of demolition and renovation activities in buildings can result in the release of asbestos fibers from building components into the air and the contamination of building components with lead-containing dust. Asbestos fibers in the air can be detected through the taking of air samples and laboratory analysis of those samples ("air monitoring"). Lead contamination of building components can be detected through lead clearance testing.
"On hundreds of occasions, Todaro created and caused to be created false laboratory reports purporting to set forth the results of asbestos air monitoring and lead clearance testing performed at sites in which demolition and renovation activities were occurring or had occurred. Todaro then mailed these bogus reports, along with invoices for payment for his purported services, to customers. Those customers included, among others, management companies, landlords, and contractors. Some of Todaro's customers, in turn, billed customers of their own for Todaro's purported services. Moreover, some of the fraudulent invoices submitted by Tosaro were ultimately paid for under New York City government programs, administered by HPD, through which buildings in New York City were renovated, demolished, or demolished and re-built (the "HPD Programs"). One purpose of the -4 HPD Programs was to increase the stock of affordable housing in New York City.
Special Agent-in-Charge Majorie Franzman stated: "The egregious and reprehensible actions of Mr. Todaro exhibited a complete disregard for the health of unsuspecting residents in New York City. Mr. Todaro also placed at risk those workers who perform demolition and renovation work by exposing them to potentially unsafe levels of lead and asbestos. My office will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to hold accountable those who violate OSHA safety regulations and worker safety laws."
