Contractor Nabbed In Asbestos Lies
By Joseph Orovic
With new rules ready to take effect, a Queens man has pleaded guilty to falsifying lead and asbestos inspection reports for hundreds of structures around the City.Saverio Todaro, who was an EPA-certified lead risk assessor and asbestos air sampling technician, is the first to be charged with, and plead guilty to, violations of the EPA’s Toxic Substances Control Act.
“Mr. Todaro was a one-man paper mill churning out phony lead and asbestos reports,” said Dept. of Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn. “He cared nothing for public safety and profited by duping government regulators.”
Todaro pleaded guilty to 11 charges, including false statements, mail fraud and violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act. He faces a sentence that could include up to 20 years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.
The 67-year-old Richmond Hill resident ran SAF Environmental Corp., which offered inspection and testing services. But since 2001, many of Todaro’s reports documented inspections that were never performed.
After City officials found dubious conditions and possible lead paint violations in residences, Todaro swooped in to perform testing. In many cases, instead of actually sending out samples to be tested, he forged lab reports giving the premises a clean bill of health. Todaro then billed many of the customers for services never performed. He often also submitted the false reports to City agencies.
In a statement before the court, a reportedly frail Todaro admitted guilt and said, “I knew that my actions were wrong and unlawful, and I am very sorry for what I did.”
Todaro’s violations also reached into asbestos mitigation, where he submitted reports after the City revoked his inspector’s license in February 2004, backdating his reports to before that date. He then continued to send customers invoices for his work.
The same behavior applies for his handling of hundreds of asbestos air monitoring reports. Todaro offered up the results to many tests that never occurred, submitting bogus clearances for many sites while billing the customers for services never performed.
Some of his funds came out of City coffers, as part of his work came from HPD’s programs.
The plea comes on the heels of new EPA regulations which will take effect this month, and modifies required asbestos and lead mitigation techniques.
Reach Reporter Joseph Orovic at jorovic@queenstribune.com, or (718) 357-7400, Ext. 127.