Bizman poisoned A/C with mercury: DA

A VENGEFUL Queens heating and air conditioning business owner got back at one of his nagging customers by lacing a home’s cooling units with deadly mercury, authorities said Wednesday.

So frustrated was Yuriy Kruk with a customer’s constant complaints that he took the drastic step of placing poisonous mercury in the air conditioning units of a Jamaica Estates home, sickening the residents, authorities said.

Roman Pinkhasov hired Kruk’s A+ HVAC and Kitchen Corp. to do work in his home. Pinkhasov persistently complained that the AC unit on the second floor wasn’t working properly. In the summer of 2015, Kruk told the homeowner that the system could not be repaired and would need to be replaced, and installed a new unit that July.

Not long after the installation, Pinkhasov and his wife, Olga, found drops of a silver substance on the floor and in the vents where Kruk, 48, had been working.

The family called 911 and firefighters from the FDNY’s hazardous materials unit found additional mercury in vents in other parts of the house. The Pinkhasovs and their son tested positive for high mercury levels. All three complained of symptoms associated with mercury poisoning, including joint pain, headaches and lethargy.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said continued exposure to mercury “could prove fatal over time.”

Kruk was charged with attempted assault and endangering public health, safety or the environment, and released on $10,000 bail. He faces up to 15 years in prison.