Bushwick Firm Nailed For Wage Violations
The father-and-son operators of a demolition company based in Bushwick were cuffed by federal agents last Thursday, Mar. 14, after being indicted on charges that they allegedly underpaid their workers, law enforcement sources said.
Jover Naranjo, owner and president of Enviro & Demo Masters Inc. at 1269 Bushwick Ave., and his father- Luperio Naranjo Sr., who served as a foreman for the company- were booked on a four-count federal indictment for depriving their workers of more than $650,000 through various violations of the federal Prevailing Wage Law.
Both suspects were arrested last Thursday at their Queens homes on charges of mail fraud, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, witness tampering and conspiracy to commit witness tampering. If convicted, they each face a maximum of 65 years behind bars.
Reportedly, investigators determined the suspects failed to pay workers the required wage to demolish buildings in upper Manhattan as part of a federally-funded project. Along the way, authorities noted, the Naranjos allegedly sent fraudulent documents to the city government in an attempt to cover their tracks.
At one point, it is alleged, they fired an employee for providing truthful information to an investigaby tor. A relative of the employee working for them was also terminated, authorities noted.
“Federal contracts come with certain legal obligations, and in this case, one of them was to pay the prevailing wage-a legal requirement this father and son allegedly violated,” said Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, in a statement announcing the charges last Thursday. “Protecting workers and ensuring that federal funds are not abused by dishonest contractors is a priority of this office.”
Rose Gill Hearn, commissioner of the city’s Department of Investigation (DOI), added that “these defendants worked overtime to spin a web of lies around their employees and the city taxpayers, according to the criminal complaint.”
Federal agents said Enviro & Demo Corp. was awarded in 2009 with a subcontract by a general contracting firm to perform the demolition work in upper Manhattan in a project overseen by the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and funded in part by the federal government.
Between August 2009 and February 2010, law enforcement sources stated, the Naranjos allegedly sent to the HPD fraudulent documents indicating that they were in compliance with the Federal Prevailing Wage Law, even though they actually underpaid their workers by several dollars per hour.
Under the prevailing wage law, demolition laborers were required to receive an hourly rate of a minimum of $20.74. However, investigators learned, the Naranjos instead allegedly paid their workers as little as $13 per hour.
Reportedly, employees working on the site were told by the suspects to lie about their identities, work schedules and pay rates if they were approached and questioned by investigators.
Prosecutors noted the Naranjos also allegedly issued paychecks to workers with the correct prevailing wage to workers on some occasions, but asked the workers to return salaries above the lower rates they agreed to provide. This was done, authorities claim, in an effort to demonstrate to investigators that they were complying with the prevailing wage requirements.
Based on the findings of their investigation, the federal government determined that the workers were denied over $650,000 in compensation.
The probe was conducted by the DOI, the federal Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General in New York and Environmental Protection Agency.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alvin Bragg of the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York’s Public Corruption Unit is prosecuting the case.
