$10M down the drain: Feds say NJ firm never replaced lead pipes

⚫ NJ company got $10.2M contract to replace lead lines

⚫ CEO, foreman accused of telling crew not to fix lines

⚫ City has found faked work at 28 sites

NEWARK – The chief executive officer of a construction company and a foreman for the company have been accused of pocketing money from a $10.2 million public works contract by faking the work on replacing lead water service lines in Newark.

On Wednesday, 57-year-old Michael Sawyer, of Burlington, and 55-year-old Latronia “Tee” Sanders, of Roselle, were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Sawyer has been CEO, president and founder of JAS Group Enterprise, which was awarded the hefty contract in December 2020 for the Newark Lead Service Line Replacement (LSLR) Program.

Adding to the layers of dismay in Newark, JAS has been a proud minority-owned business. The alleged faked replacement of lead lines endangered residents, in particular children, of a mostly Black and Latino city. The Murphy administration has been pushing for more contracts to be awarded to minority-owned firms, North Jersey.com reported.

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Since January, Newark has excavated and inspected water service lines at various sites that were assigned to JAS for remediation, finding at least 28 sites where lead pipes were left untouched.

Sanders was the foreman at about 14 of the sites where lead lines remained, managing crew members and communicating with JAS administrative personnel, as well as third parties.

“On multiple occasions and at multiple sites, Sawyer and Sanders expressly directed workers not to replace lead pipes that they knew were present in water service lines,” according to the criminal complaint.

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In August 2019, Newark secured a $120 million bond with help from the Essex County Improvement Authority, to cover the full cost of the lead line replacements and cut the timeframe for completion from eight years to less than three.

A reworked lease agreement with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey brought in $155 million to service debt on the bonds.

Sawyer occasionally made field visits and, at some work sites, expressly directed them not to replace lead pipes and to cover them with dirt, a couple witnesses said on record in the complaint.

Other witnesses said that Sanders, on multiple occasions, directed crew members either to replace only a portion of a lead water service line or to leave lead pipes, undisturbed.

At some sites, JAS replaced half of the water service line containing lead but did not, as required, replace the other half containing lead.

In other cases, where lead was found, JAS billed them as test pits, lying about the presence of lead lines.

Under Sawyer and Sanders' directions, paperwork and photos were submitted, falsely claiming that any lead lines had been replaced by the company's workers.

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