New Larceny Charge For Former Fairfield Public Works Director

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield's former public works director now faces seven counts instead of six in connection with allegations of corruption and contamination in town. A new larceny charge against ex-Fairfield official Joe Michelangelo was included in a document filed by the prosecution at a hearing Monday.

Michelangelo did not speak during the brief appearance before Judge Joan Alexander. His next pretrial hearing will take place March 26, the same date that ex-public works superintendent Scott Bartlett and former town contractor Jason Julian will appear in court. The three are accused of participating in a conspiracy to illegally operate a dump for contaminated material at the town fill pile and to allow fraudulent billing, according to court records.

Michelangelo's new larceny charge was included Monday in a long-form information document detailing the counts against him.

"The case is just taking its normal course through the system," said Michelangelo's attorney, Eugene Riccio, adding the new charge was brought using the same information as the original arrest warrant affidavit from July 2019.

Michelangelo is accused of first-degree larceny on the grounds that in mid-2016 he authorized a benefits claim from the town that he knew was false for property worth more than $2,000, including property at Penfield Beach, according to the long-form information.

In addition to larceny, Michelangelo is also charged with dumping, accepting waste at a facility without a permit, illegal disposal of PCBs, discharging material into water without a permit, second-degree forgery and conspiring to commit illegal dumping, the long-form information said.

Michelangelo has previously pleaded not guilty and requested a jury trial, as have Bartlett and Julian. The trio was arrested in August, and Michelangelo and Bartlett were later fired from their town jobs. Former chief fiscal officer Bob Mayer was terminated in January and is accused of stealing a file related to the fill pile case and two folders on the Penfield Pavilion building project.

Fairfield hired Julian Development in 2013 to operate the fill pile and reduce the amount of unused project material on the site by 40,000 cubic yards. But over the next three years, the pile more than doubled in size, and days before the agreement was set to end, contaminants were discovered on the property.

After conservation officials said the transportation and dumping of contaminated material could have violated state or federal law, police opened an investigation in 2017, which resulted in the arrests.

Around the same time that Bartlett, Julian and Michelangelo were charged, asbestos at a local park was reported to police in connection with the use of town fill. Since August, more than 80 areas in Fairfield have been tested for contamination. The vast majority have been deemed safe, but some sites were found to contain asbestos, arsenic and other contaminants, and are undergoing remediation.

The town has also received violation notices from the state and federal government regarding PCB contamination and lack of permitting at the fill pile site, and is working to develop a response plan.