TRENTON,
NJ – Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman announced that a Woodbridge
man was sentenced to state prison Friday for performing unsafe asbestos work at
John Marshall Elementary School in Edison and numerous other schools and homes
through his unlicensed business, Citadel Environmental Consultants. He
previously admitted that he released hazardous asbestos dust and debris at a
daycare center in Union County.
William
T. Muzzio Jr., 52, of Woodbridge, was sentenced to five years in state prison
by Superior Court Judge Scott J. Moynihan in Union County. Muzzio pleaded
guilty on March 10 to a second-degree charge of unlawful release of a toxic
pollutant and a third-degree charge of violating the Asbestos Control and
Licensing Act (removing or encapsulating asbestos without a license). The state
recommended a prison sentence of seven years under the plea agreement, but the
judge imposed a sentence of five years.
Deputy
attorneys General Mary Erin McAnally and Phillip Leahy prosecuted the case for
the Division of Criminal Justice Specialized Crimes Bureau, Environmental
Crimes Unit. McAnally handled the sentencing.
“Muzzio
exhibited tremendous greed and callousness with his unlicensed and unsafe
asbestos removal, putting the health of young children at risk so that he could
turn a profit,” said Hoffman. “Fortunately, the asbestos-containing dust and
debris that he left in the basement of the daycare center was quickly
discovered by state officials and removed.”
“This
prison sentence serves as a warning to dishonest business operators who would
threaten the public by violating our environmental and occupational safety
laws,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. “We will
aggressively enforce those laws and our related criminal code provisions.”
The
state began investigating Muzzio and his business in March 2012, after a
daycare facility in Union Township (Union County), the Townley School, hired
Muzzio to remove pipe insulation containing asbestos from its basement boiler
room. The state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) had inspected
the facility and notified its operators that damaged insulation needed to be
repaired or removed prior to renewal of the facility’s license. After Muzzio
performed asbestos removal at the facility in February 2012, DHSS checked with
the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development and learned that
Muzzio was not licensed to perform asbestos abatement, as required by law. The
Department of Labor referred the matter to the Division of Criminal Justice.
The
Department of Labor and Division of Criminal Justice conducted inspections in
March at the daycare facility and discovered dust and debris containing
asbestos in the boiler room and an adjacent crawl space. The facility
immediately hired a licensed contractor to properly complete the asbestos
abatement.
The
Division of Criminal Justice expanded the investigation and identified numerous
other sites, including schools and homes, where Muzzio performed unlicensed
asbestos abatement between April 2011 and May 2012. In pleading guilty, Muzzio
admitted releasing asbestos at the Townley School. He further admitted
performing unlicensed asbestos work at the Union Middle School in Hampton,
Hunterdon County; two schools in Hackettstown, namely the Hatchery Hill School
and the Willow Grove School; and the John Marshall Elementary School in Edison.
In addition, he admitted that, assisted by another, directly or indirectly, he
performed unlicensed asbestos work at 12 homes in Middlesex, Union, Morris,
Essex, Hudson and Ocean counties. The Department of Labor has inspected the
homes at which Muzzio performed unlawful work to determine whether any asbestos
contamination remains.
Under
the plea agreement, Muzzio must pay total restitution of $19,848 as follows:
- $800 to the Edison Board of Education.
- $7,970 to the Townley School,
- $4,763 to the New Jersey Department of Labor,
- $3,445 to the Hackettstown Board of Education,
- $2,870 to the Union Township Board of Education, and
The
investigation was conducted for the Environmental Crimes Unit, within the
Division of Criminal Justice Specialized Crimes Bureau, by former Detective
Matthew Schneiderman, Sgt. Steven Ogulin, former Detective Michael Klumpp,
former Detective Dawn Ryan, Detective Kelly Howard, Detective Cecil Boone,
Detective Christian Harden, Deputy Attorney General McAnally, Deputy Attorney
General Leahy, former Deputy Attorney General Betty Rodriguez and Management
Assistant Nathalie Kurzawa. The matter was referred to the Division of Criminal
Justice by the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The
Woodbridge Police Department assisted in executing a search warrant at Muzzio’s
home, and the New Jersey State Police assisted in analyzing computer evidence
at the Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory.
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