Builder arrested on school fraud charges

July 16, 2004

category=1110 & slug=Schools%20Mold

By MATT APUZZO

ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A New York environmental contractor was arrested

Thursday on charges he defrauded Connecticut schools in a mold

removal scam that prosecutors believe extended to a number of other

states.

Schongar, 58, and his New York company sold chemicals to

schools claiming they would rid the buildings of mold. But officials

in the southwestern Connecticut town of Easton began raising concerns

last year about what chemicals were in fact used.

The Environmental Protection Agency has been investigating, and the

probe has expanded into several states and other Connecticut

districts. Prosecutors say he is under investigation in New Jersey,

New York, South Carolina and Virginia.

Environmental officials have been working to determine what Schongar

sprayed in the schools and whether it posed any health hazards.

Schongar, who appeared in federal court Thursday, said he did nothing

wrong and was meeting with federal investigators to clear up some

misunderstandings.

Easton officials hired Schongar's Clifton Park, N.Y., firm to spray

an elementary school with a chemical called Microbe Shield.

Easton Police Chief F. said students at the school

experienced breathing problems, nausea and rashes following the

spraying.

" Could it have been from the spraying? Could it have been from our

school? We still don't know, " said.

Microbe Shield is produced and distributed only by AEGIS

Environmental. AEGIS officials said Schongar was not a client and had

not purchased the chemical from them.

" This guy apparently represented to the school system that what he

was using was our material and it wasn't, " AEGIS President Hal Locker

said.

EPA investigators in January raided Schongar's home, seizing false

documents, including diplomas and resumes, according to court

documents.

Schongar was released on $50,000 bond. He is due back in court Aug. 4.

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