3 people, 2 companies accused of illegally demolishing Fall River school

FALL RIVER, Mass. (WLNE) — The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office indicted three people and two companies for illegally tearing down an elementary school in Fall River.

The attorney general said the demolition of the old Healy Elementary School on Hicks Street in 2018 polluted the neighborhood’s air with asbestos. It required the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to spend $2 million to get rid of the problem.

Eric Resendes, who bought the property in 2017, hired people who weren’t licensed asbestos contractors to conduct the demolition. When they started the project, the Department of Environmental Protection ordered them to stop.

The workers were accused of ignoring the order.

“The defendants 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,” said the attorney general’s office. “[It] cause[d] repeated additional air pollution and pos[ed] a potential threat to the surrounding community’s health, safety and well-being.”

Resendes, his corporation, Spindle City Homes, Inc., Richard Miranda Sr., Richard Miranda, Jr., and his company, Diversified Roofing Systems, Inc., were indicted last week on 104 counts of violating the Massachusetts Clean Air Act.

They are due back in court Sept. 11.