The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Vacant lot raises questions in FBI probe
A former Bridgeport official at the center of a federal investigation into possible municipal corruption apparently used a tree-lined vacant lot as the address for two of his companies.
Jose Tiago — recently fired as Bridgeport’s deputy public facilities director over scrap metal sales under investigation by the FBI — for years listed 1581 Seaview Ave. in Bridgeport as the physical and mailing address for two companies: Tiago Construction and Citywide Properties, state business filings show.
Gabe Rosenberg, a spokesman for Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, whose office records business registrations and maintains those documents, said giving a false address on a business registration form is a potential crime.
"Knowingly providing false information on a registration document is a Class A misdemeanor," Rosenberg said. A class A misdemeanor carries a prison sentence of up to one year and a $2,000 fine.
A visual inspection of 1581 Seaview revealed the property has no buildings or structures and offered no evidence that any buildings had ever been there. The lot is dominated by large trees likely decades old and a fence surrounds the generally messy property.
There are several piles of what appears to be landscaping rubble scattered about.
After a representative for Tiago was contacted last week by a Hearst Connecticut Media reporter, the physical and mailing addresses for Citywide Properties was changed to 65 Herkimer Street in Bridgeport, a multifamily home owned by Tiago.
The change was made Tuesday, state records show, and the business filings were updated back to 2014 — the year Tiago sold 1581 Seaview Avenue to Luis and Jose Vaz.
The Vaz family owns two Bridgeport companies under investigation by the FBI over no-bid contracts from the city’s public facilities department.
Under state law, a limited liability corporation such as Tiago’s companies must pay a fee to register with the state. The company’s owners or agents are required to provide a physical and mailing address that matches where company records are maintained.
Tiago did not return calls seeking comment on his companies and their business filings.
John Gulash, a Bridgeport attorney representing Tiago, said no laws were broken and it was “misinformation” regarding the Seaview Avenue property.
“I think you are operating under misinformation that laws were violated under companies he once operated and no longer operates,” Gulash said.
Asked what that misinformation is, Gulash declined to elaborate.
Tangled web
Federal authorities have subpoenaed records for Bridgeport’s scrap metal sales and no-bid contracts given to VAZ Quality Works and Seaview Equipment Sales & Rental, both owned by the Vaz family.
Contracts awarded to G. Pic and Sons Construction, owed by Michael and Guido Picarazzia of Trumbull, also were subpoenaed by the FBI.
In August 2014, Tiago sold 1581 Seaview Ave. to the Vaz family, along with adjacent property at 640 Crescent Ave. and 600 Crescent Ave. City land records list the .8 acre lot as vacant land.
Seaview Equipment Rental is housed at 640 Crescent Avenue, which abuts Tiago’s former Seaview Avenue property.
The Vaz’s paid $845,000 for the Seaview Avenue lot, providing Tiago $740,000 above his 2005 purchase price of $105,000, city land records show.
That transaction took place about four months after Tiago was hired by then-Mayor Bill Finch as a $91,304-a-year project manager in the city’s public facilities department overseeing road construction.
State records show Tiago listed 1581 Seaview as the physical and mailing address for Tiago Construction until the company was dissolved in May 2015 — nearly a year after he sold the property to the Vaz family.
Sudden updates
The business filings for Citywide Properties that were updated Tuesday to show the Herkimer address also list the company as active, meaning it can conduct business in the state.
Prior to this week, those registration documents had not been updated since 2013, and that year’s filing, as well as previous years, listed the Seaview Avenue address.
The new 2014 filing submitted to the state on Tuesday acknowledges 1581 Seaview Avenue as the company’s previous address and changes the address to 65 Herkimer Street.
State Rep. Steve Stafstrom, D-Bridgeport and co-chairman of the legislature’s judiciary committee, is listed as the agent for Tiago Construction. He declined comment on the company.
Attorney Louis Afonso, who is listed as the agent for Citywide Properties, did not return calls seeking comment.
Over the years, other addresses have been attached to Citywide Properties.
For example, some web pages list the company’s address as either 65 Herkimer Street or 2445 Park Ave. Apt. 50, both in Bridgeport. The Park Avenue property is a condo owned by Tiago, city records show.
Zoning activity
In 2010, Citywide Properties, using 1581 Seaview Avenue as its address, won a zoning appeal before a state Superior Court involving a contractor storage facility proposed for the Seaview Avenue property.
The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission had previously denied permits for the facility and the court reversed that decision.
The storage facility was never built.
Citywide Properties in May 2010 received permission to expand its building at 640 Crescent Avenue by adding a second floor. Minutes of the meeting show Tiago recused himself from the hearing the application submitted by his own company, records show.
City records show in Tiago served on the P&Z Commission from 2009 to 2014.
Despite being dissolved in 2015, Tiago Construction’s website still pops up in Google searches.
A Dunn and Bradstreet report lists Tiago Construction’s address as 2445 Park Avenue in Bridgeport and noted the firm had annual revenue of $414,926, five employees and specialized in "new construction, single-family houses."
Phone numbers listed on web pages for both Tiago Construction and Citywide Properties no longer work.
Rosenberg said the secretary of state’s office does not verify the accuracy of addresses and information listed on company registration forms.
"Even if we did do an address verification, that would only help a little because all it would do is verify that the address provided is a valid U.S. postal service address, but not that the business is actually located at that address," Rosenberg noted.
"Our office doesn’t have any investigatory power with respect to an issue like this," Rosenberg said. "But they have to provide a street address to our office when they form the business."