New York demolition company pleads guilty to Clean Air Act violations

A Castleton, New York, demolition company pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Air Act and admitted that one of its employees had falsified federal documents by claiming asbestos was not present at a project site in Tory, New York, in 2013, a report by the Times Union says. The guilty plea was submitted by M. Cristo Inc. after a years-long investigation by the FBI and state attorney general’s office that also focused on the decision to demolish the buildings on an emergency basis by city officials.

The King Street buildings that were torn down in August 2013 had been marked for demolition by city code officers and its owners, who wanted to develop the land. The report says Mark McGrath, a former city councilman, filed a complaint with the state Department of Labor that stated he saw dust spreading across the property and onto the adjacent restaurant that stayed open during the demolition.

The FBI then intervened and began interviewing city officials about the decision to declare the buildings unsafe and allow the emergency demolition. The demolition company agreed to pay a $10,000 fine.

According to the report, the investigation languished. In 2014, the Times Union reported the FBI interviewed Russ Reeves, a former city engineer, about the decision by Bill Dune, the city’s former commissioner of planning and economic development, and Fire Chief Thomas Garrett to order the demolition.

The demolition occurred after Reeves left for vacation out of state, the report says. Reeves claims he had no knowledge that Garrett ordered the demolition. The day the buildings were demolished, the fire department had identified a three-story wood-frame row building at the site as being too dangerous for firefighters to enter in the event of a fire. Garrett ordered it to be torn down.

The King Street properties were owned by Columbia Street Associates, Albany, which is controlled by an attorney named Donald Boyajian. Boyajian says in the report that he had not requested an emergency demolition for the properties.

M. Cristo’s plea agreement indicates that Ron Martin, the company’s former vice president and asbestos abatement supervisor, falsified the federal document stating there was no asbestos at the site with the company’s knowledge, the report says. Court records obtained by the Times Union state Martin had been aware of asbestos in the properties for several years prior to demolition, including reviewing an asbestos survey of the properties.