Judge sets trial date in Fairfield dumping case
BRIDGEPORT — At least two trials will be held for the four former Fairfield town officials and a local developer charged with concealing the dumping of tons of contaminated soil around the town, a judge ruled Thursday.
During a hearing Thursday afternoon, Superior Court Judge Tracy Lee Dayton told the lawyers representing the defendants and the two prosecutors that a first trial, regarding the alleged illegal dumping of contaminated material from Owen Fish Pond in Fairfield would be held in late April with jury selection beginning on April 10.
Two former town officials would stand trial in that case, former public works superintendent Scott Bartlett and Brian Carey, interim public works director and town conservation director.
Prosecutors disclosed Thursday that a report done more than two years ago refutes findings in later arrest warrant affidavits that Fairfield town employees were put at risk, handling contaminated material they were assured was safe.
The sudden disclosure of the report, done by the Yale School of Medicine in July 2020, upset Judge Dayton who demanded to know why prosecutors had not disclosed it earlier.
“It’s not OK this wasn’t turned over for two years,” she told the prosecutors. “These are required to be turned over, it’s the law.”
Reading from the report the judge stated that a berm of contaminated soil erected at the town’s public works site was tested and found not to be of a level that is considered dangerous.
The arrest warrant affidavits, filed as late as last year, state that the defendants put employees at risk by telling them it was safe to work on the berm without protective clothing.
“In my view persuading the bluest of blue-collar workers to expose themselves to a petri dish of contaminated soil with PCBs and other carcinogens is a significant aggravating factor which makes it far too serious for the benefit of the AR program,” a judge previously ruled in denying accelerated rehabilitation, a pretrial probation program, for Carey and Bartlett. “It was probably equivalent to having someone jump without a parachute because those folks still don’t know what their future holds health wise.”
Carey’s lawyer, John R. Gulash and Bartlett’s lawyer, Frederick Paoletti, declined comment after Thursday’s hearing.
Carey, Bartlett, Emmet Hibson, the town’s former human resources director and Robert Mayer, Fairfield’s former chief fiscal officer, and developer Jason Julian are charged with multiple counts of illegally disposing of hazardous waste and conspiring to cover up their actions. In addition, Bartlett is accused of accepting bribes from Julian to allow him to dump contaminated soil on town property. Bartlett is charged in a separate case with larceny for allegedly stealing more than $30,000 from a disabled woman.
Robert Mayer, is also charged with burglary, larceny and forgery charges in connection with the alleged dumping conspiracy. His lawyer recently filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the town.
Robert Grabarek, owner of Osprey Environmental Engineering in Clinton is also awaiting trial in the case as a part of the alleged coverup.
Joseph Michelangelo, Fairfield’s former director of public works, previously pleaded guilty to the illegal disposal of PCPs, multiple counts of receiving solid waste at an unpermitted facility, disposal of asbestos without a permit, making false representations and conspiracy. He is expected to be a key witness for the prosecution.