Contractor Agrees to Pay $1.5M, Ex-superintendent Pleads Guilty Over Contaminated Fill

Abstract

A contractor working on a highway project in Rhode Island has agreed to pay $1.5 million in fines, and its former superintendent on the project pleaded guilty to criminal charges in deals with the U.S. Attorney's Office over improperly sourced fill that did not meet environmental requirements. In addition to reconstructing the interchange, the project includes removing or replacing seven structurally deficient bridges. Federal prosecutors say Barletta's former superintendent on the project, Dennis Ferreira, arranged for stone and dirt to be imported from other projects the company was working on in violation of the project soil and materials management plan that had been approved by the Rhode Island Dept. The material had not been tested for contamination before it was trucked over, and investigators say Ferreira used tests from another Barletta project for MBTA to make it seem that the stone had tested clean. About a month later, tests revealed that the stone did not actually meet the project's environmental requirements. The RIDOT project was funded with federal tax dollars, U.S. Attorney Zachary Cunha said in a statement announcing a non-prosecution agreement with Barletta and Ferreira's plea agreement. "Barletta fully cooperated with the government during the course of its investigation and is satisfied with the resolution of this case."Ferreira pleaded guilty to three counts of making false statements in a highway project.