2nd Village Employee Arraigned On Inspection Fraud Charges

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — The second of two Spring Valley village employees accused of fraud connected to the fatal fire at the Evergreen Home for Adults in March has been arraigned on the grand jury indictment, Rockland County District Attorney Tom Walsh announced Monday.

Wayne Ballard, 64, of New City was arraigned in Rockland County Court before the
Honorable Kevin F. Russo Monday morning. Ballard had been indicted on 1 count of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, 1 count of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the Second Degree, and 1 count of Falsifying Business Records in the Second Degree.

Prosecutors said he filed false reports about the converted 1903 hotel where a firefighter and a resident died.

“Today’s arraignment is yet another step in the prosecution phase of this ongoing criminal investigation into the fatal Evergreen fire," Walsh said.

Raymond Canario, 45, was arraigned in Rockland County Court last week after being indicted on three counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, 3 counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the Second Degree, and 3 counts of Falsifying Business Records in the Second Degree.

The complaints against them cite reports filed for 2017, 2018 and 2019. Spring Valley Village Hall was raided in June by investigators seeking documents and records. Ballard and Canario both pleaded not guilty to felony charges in July in village court.

The two are still working although Spring Valley has suspended inspectors before for non-criminal allegations, The Journal News reported.

The adult home was destroyed in a massive blaze that killed firefighter Jared Lloyd and 79-year-old resident Oliver Hueston and injured about a dozen people. More than 100 people had to be rescued. Lloyd, 35, was rescuing residents when he sent out a Mayday call from an upper floor before it collapsed. He could not be reached.

Six people have been charged, and two others indicted by a grand jury: Rabbi Aaron Sommer and his father, Rabbi Nathaniel Sommer, who had conducted a pre-Passover kitchen cleaning hours before the conflagration which included using special blowtorches for which they did not have a permit to remove all traces of leavening from the facility's industrial ovens.

Ballard and Canario are scheduled for court appearances Dec. 8.