Union County, New Jersey - A contractor from Woodbridge, NJ is in custody after authorities learned that he allowed for the release of dangerous asbestos fibers at a New Jersey daycare center and other locations around the state.
According to an article in the Express-Times as well as several other media reports, police arrested William T. Muzzio Jr. after discovering that he did not have a license to perform asbestos abatement nor did he know the proper methods for accomplishing asbestos removal. Court documents note that Muzzio's shoddy work resulted in the release of asbestos fibers in at least 10 of the 36 locations where he illegally removed or sealed asbestos materials.
Authorities say that in the ten months between April 2011 and February 2012, Muzzio was hired for asbestos removal projects at 36 different locations throughout Union, Warren, Morris, Monmouth, Ocean, and Hunterdon Counties, all in Central New Jersey. These locations included not only the daycare but also 21 private homes, 13 schools, and an apartment complex.
Among the schools where Muzzio worked were the Hatchery Hill Elementary and Willow Grove schools in Hackettstown and Union Township Middle School in Hunterdon County. Muzzio removed asbestos from the nurse's office at Willow Grove and from a classroom and faculty restroom at Hatchery Hill. Air samples were taken at the schools a few months later, when the districts were informed of Muzzio's crimes, but at that point no asbestos fibers were found, the article states. Officials for those districts claim that no one's health was in jeopardy during the work.
Asbestos was found, however, in the boiler room of an unnamed Union County daycare center, authorities say, and the material was also released in at least 9 of the 21 homes in which Muzzio worked.
"Muzzio was well aware of the dangers posed by asbestos and the fact that a licensed professional must remove it," Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa said in a statement to the press. "But we allege that he repeatedly ignored those dangers and risked exposing schoolchildren and residents across New Jersey in order to enrich himself."
Asbestos exposure can cause a host of respiratory-related diseases, including mesoth elioma cancer, which can surface decades after exposure. Doctors have determined that no amount of exposure is too small to cause this disease.
Muzzio, who currently sits in Union County jail, faces 10 counts of unlawful release of a toxic pollutant, 36 counts of violating the state Asbestos Control and Licensing Act, one count of theft by deception and two counts of uttering a forged document. A lengthy jail sentence is possible.
