Another mold remediator caught with hand in the cookie jar

[Guest guest]

" And the indictment also suggests there may have been kickbacks on other

projects at City Hall.

Now, the city plans to suspend all future work with the company,

identified by city officials as Suburban Middlesex Insulation of Norwood, a

company

specializing in asbestos, lead, mold and other hazardous materials.The

company has also done $6.5 million in work in city schools.

“They will not be doing business with us again,†Mayor E.

Harrington said Friday.

Attempts to reach Darrell W. Maclean, president of the company, were

unsuccessful Friday.

In meetings with that contractor — identified in court paperwork as “

Contractor A†— Vasapollo was given cash-filled envelopes, totaling more

than

$4,000, during meetings in restaurant parking lots in the city. "

Brockton building official indicted; feds hint at more city kickbacks

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ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER

Posted Sep 12, 2009 @ 09:18 AM

Last update Sep 12, 2009 @ 09:24 AM

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BROCKTON —

ph L. Vasapollo Jr. opened the glove compartment in a contractor’s car

and pulled out an envelope stuffed with $1,000.

“OK, great,†Vasapollo said, according to a federal indictment that led

to his arrest Friday on bribery and extortion charges.

The incident was one of at least three kickbacks given to the city’s

building superintendent by a Norwood-based contractor in a scheme to circumvent

bidding laws, according to a federal indictment that describes the secret

recordings that were part of the probe.

And the indictment also suggests there may have been kickbacks on other

projects at City Hall.

Now, the city plans to suspend all future work with the company,

identified by city officials as Suburban Middlesex Insulation of Norwood, a

company

specializing in asbestos, lead, mold and other hazardous materials.

The company has also done $6.5 million in work in city schools.

“They will not be doing business with us again,†Mayor E.

Harrington said Friday.

Attempts to reach Darrell W. Maclean, president of the company, were

unsuccessful Friday.

In meetings with that contractor — identified in court paperwork as “

Contractor A†— Vasapollo was given cash-filled envelopes, totaling more

than

$4,000, during meetings in restaurant parking lots in the city.

FBI agents arrested Vasapollo, 66, at his Gifford Street home on Friday

morning on three counts of extortion under color of official right and one

count of bribery.

Vasapollo pleaded not guilty at his arraignment before federal magistrate

Leo T. Sorokin in U.S. District Court in Boston later on Friday. He was

released on a $10,000 unsecured bond, meaning he didn’t have to post any

money.

Vasapollo is set to return to the federal court at 3 p.m. on Oct. 19.

According to federal officials and the indictment unsealed Friday,

Vasapollo was caught on tape taking kickbacks from the contractor who was doing

asbestos-removal work at the War Memorial Building in a scheme dating to at

least 2007.

A six-member committee was formed in the city several months ago to review

how all no-bid contracts are given after federal investigators began

examining city records, the mayor said.

“We wanted to make sure there weren’t any other problems,†Harrington

said.

Vasapollo, who earned $97,00 a year, has been on medical leave since

April. He is now on unpaid medical leave after exhausting his sick time and he

indicated “he would not be coming back,†Harrington said.

Vasapollo had also been on sick leave last year after suffering a heart

attack.

Vasapollo was hired six years ago by then-Mayor T. Yunits Jr. but

lacked state certification for the position.

Vasapollo is certified as a building inspector, but needed to pass two

additional tests to be building superintendent.

Harrington said he is now conferring with the city’s attorneys to

determine the city’s next legal step in terms of Vasapollo’s employment.

Harrington said FBI agents had been examining city records for months but

didn’t indicate until now why they were doing it.

“They were playing it very close to the vest,†he said.

According to the 12-page federal indictment, Vasapollo hired the Norwood

business to remove asbestos materials from the War Memorial building, then

ordered the contractor to break up the bills so it wouldn’t have to go out

to bid.

The city was renovating and restoring the historic War Memorial Building

on West Elm Street, home to the Brockton Symphony Orchestra and veterans

groups. It has also been eyed as a regional performing arts center.

Under the state procurement law, any contracts of $5,000 or more have to

go out to bid.

The indictment suggests that the two had split up contracts in the past to

avoid going out to bid.

When Vasapollo delivered a $9,650 check to “Contractor A†on Nov. 15,

2007, in the parking lot of the Foxy Lady strip club, Vasapollo instructed him

to get in touch with him and “we’ll do it that way,†according to the

indictment.

“Contractor A understood this to mean that he was to pay a kickback to

Vasapollo as he did for the City Hall work in 2006,†according to the

indictment.

In three secretly recorded meetings, the contractor paid Vasapollo $4,000

in exchange for approving the work.

At the end of one meeting in April 2008, the indictment alleges Vasapollo

told the contractor he would find more work for him.

“I gotta start thinking of some other things you need to do,†Vasapollo

said, according to the indictment. He is quoted as saying they should “keep

the flow and make a couple of bucks on the side.â€

On Dec. 10, 2008, the two met for lunch at Pizzeria Uno in Brockton and

then went to the contractor’s car.

There, the contractor handed Vasapollo an envelope containing $1,500, the

indictment alleges.

“Vasapollo then commented, according to the paperwork: ‘We did three, but

I, I, I’ll get another one, even if there’s a few small ones in there, I

mean, just to keep it, keep it going.’â€

_http://www.enterprisenews.com/news/cops_and_courts/x1006098248/Federal-indi

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