Press Release  AG's Office Secures 104 Indictments over Illegal Demolition of Former Healy Elementary School in Fall River

FALL RIVER — Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell’s Office has secured 104 indictments against five defendants for illegally tearing down the former Healy Elementary School, located at 726 Hicks Street in Fall River. The AG’s Office alleges the demolition, which happened in 2018, polluted the air in the neighborhood with asbestos, exposed workers and residents to asbestos, lead and dust over a period of seven months, and required a removal action from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency removal costing nearly $2 million. 

The AG’s Office alleges that during demolition asbestos and lead were crushed into a powdery substance, commingled with other debris materials and spread throughout the site and onto an adjacent public sidewalk and neighboring residential properties. This conduct also allowed for asbestos fibers to become airborne. 

The defendants, Eric Resendes, age 42, of Fall River, his corporation, Spindle City Homes, Inc., Richard Miranda, Sr., age 67, of Assonet, his son, Richard Miranda, Jr., age 47, of Acushnet, and his company, Diversified Roofing Systems, Inc., were indicted last week by the Bristol County Grand Jury on 104 counts of violating the Massachusetts Clean Air Act. They will be arraigned in Bristol County Superior Court at Fall River on September 11.   

Resendes, a developer who owns Spindle City Homes, Inc, bought the former Healy Elementary School in 2017. He hired Miranda Sr. and Miranda, Jr. as demolition contractors, even though neither were licensed asbestos contractors as required by law in order to handle asbestos at the site. The defendants then removed some, but not all, of the asbestos-containing material from the Healy School’s interior and transported a portion of the waste to a landfill in Ohio.  

The AG’s Office alleges Miranda Jr. then applied for a city building permit to demolish the school and included an inaccurate asbestos abatement report claiming the asbestos had been properly removed in his application. 

Prior to demolition, numerous materials throughout the site still contained asbestos. Nonetheless, the defendants each failed to hire a licensed asbestos contractor, failed to notify the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) of the asbestos removal activity as required by law and failed to follow the safe work practices required under the Clean Air Act. 

Asbestos is a hazardous material and known human carcinogen regulated under the Clean Air Act. It is used as fire proofing in a wide variety of building materials, from roofing and flooring, to siding and wallboard, to caulking and insulation, and is especially prevalent in older construction. If improperly handled or maintained, asbestos fibers can be released into the air and inhaled, devastating the lungs, causing scarring, malfunction and potentially life-threatening illnesses, including asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma. Once disturbed, asbestos fibers can remain airborne, and therefore breathable for up to 72 hours. Because of the serious health risks associated with asbestos, there is no safe level of exposure.   

Following a complaint from a residential neighbor of the site, MassDEP became aware of the illegal demolition and ordered the defendants to stop work on the site. The defendants ignored this order and continued to work. They completed demolition of the building and left an uncovered pile of asbestos-containing material on the site as well as asbestos-containing debris on the sidewalks next to the site – causing repeated additional air pollution and posing a potential threat to the community’s health, safety and well-being. 

Over the next six months, the defendants repeatedly ignored or failed to carry out MassDEP’s order to discontinue the removal of asbestos containing matter and to contain the site.  

The former Healy Elementary School is adjacent to densely populated residential properties and a playground. Within one mile of the site are over 18,000 residents, five schools, one nursing home and six daycares. The site is also located within a Commonwealth of Massachusetts Designated Environmental Justice Area. 

The charges are the result of an investigation by the Massachusetts Environmental Crimes Strike Force, an interagency unit that includes prosecutors from the AG’s Office, Environmental Police Officers assigned to the AG’s Office, and investigators and engineers from MassDEP. The Strike Force is overseen by AG Campbell, MassDEP Commissioner Bonnie Heiple and Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper and investigates and prosecutes crimes that harm the state’s water, air, land or that pose a significant threat to human health, safety, welfare or the environment. 

These charges are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. 

This case is being handled by Assistant Attorney General David Wittenberg and Division Chief David Clayton, both of the AG’s Environmental Crimes Strike Force Division with the assistance of Massachusetts Environmental Police detectives assigned to the AG’s Office, Asbestos Section Chief Colleen Ferguson and Regional Enforcement Coordinator Cynthia Baran of MassDEP’s Southeastern Regional Office, Investigators Stephen Spencer and Michael Whiteside of MassDEP’s Environmental Strike Force, and Industrial Health and Safety Inspector Jeffrey Finnegan of the Department of Labor Standards.   
 

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