State employee claims mold in ville office made her ill

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State employee claims mold in ville office made her ill

Tampabay.com - St. sburg,FL*

By , Times Staff Writer

In print: Tuesday, September 23, 2008

http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/article823074.ece

BROOKSVILLE — A toxic mold contamination at a local office building

leased by the Department of Corrections may have made state

employees sick, according to court documents.

Investigator Deborah Roscillo works at the department's probation

and parole division office at 20144 Cortez Blvd., just east of U.S.

41.

The state agency rents the white stucco building from prominent

ville real estate broker Buckner, according to property

records.

Roscillo started working for the department in November 2006 and

discovered the mold June 13.

Her attorney, Lash, filed court papers Sept. 15 alleging that

flooding problems from an adjacent bathroom and roof have occurred

for years, allowing mold spores to grow on the building's interior

walls.

Lash suggested that his client became " ill as a result of a

prolonged exposure to mold toxins in the building. "

The court documents ask a judge for permission to access the

building to conduct tests in expectation of a future lawsuit.

Although no legal action against Buckner or the state agency has

been filed, it would likely seek damages to cover any needed health

care.

" They've got some mold issues, " Lash said in a recent interview. " We

are trying to determine if the mold is causing her health problems. "

Along with the members of the public who visit the offices, the

building houses an unspecified number of workers. Lash believes more

could be affected. " If there is a problem in the building, it's

going to manifest itself to other employees, " he said.

The liability could also extend to the Corrections Department,

though those claims would largely be covered by workers'

compensation.

An agency spokeswoman said department officials are aware of the

situation.

Buckner said he could not discuss the issue at length because of the

potential litigation.

" All I can tell you is there was a small leak, some mold, and we

took care of it, " he said. " We went above and beyond cleaning it up

so we could be on the safe side. "

But that cleaning is another point of contention.

Lash sent Buckner a letter July 30 asking him not to touch the

building so as to preserve any evidence. But when Lash's inspector

entered to conduct tests Aug. 6, he discovered someone had recently

cleaned the carpet and sprayed a citrus mold decontaminant.

" Our expert went in there and said the place smelled like oranges,

so we knew something was going on, " Lash said. " You can't take away

the evidence to mask the problem. "

can be reached at jfrank@... or (352) 754-6114.