GARDEN CITY, N.Y., Sept. 29 — The owner of one Long
Island company has pleaded guilty to cheating workers out of
$300,000 in wages, and two officials at another company face
similar charges that they underpaid workers by nearly $780,000,
the authorities said today.
In the first case, Ralph Garofalo of Huntington pleaded
guilty on Wednesday to a felony count of scheming to defraud and
a misdemeanor count of willful failure to pay prevailing wages.
The prevailing wage includes union pay, overtime and other
benefits required of contractors who work on public
projects.
The charges stemmed from a 1998 investigation of Garofalo
Carting Inc., a garbage carting company in Brentwood, said James
M. Catterson Jr., the Suffolk County district attorney. As part
of his plea, Mr. Garofalo is expected to be sentenced to one and
a half to three years in prison, Mr. Catterson said. Sentencing
is scheduled for Nov. 21.
Mr. Garofalo and the company have agreed to pay $300,000 in
restitution to the workers as part of a settlement with the
federal Labor Department.
In a separate case, Douglas and Carolann Ryan of Massapequa
have been indicted on charges that they withheld $779,000 from
employees of Trade Wind Plumbing Inc., Mr. Catterson said.
The Ryans pleaded not guilty on Thursday. Mr. Catterson said
plumbers employed by their company were underpaid between
January 1998 and May of this year. The workers were assigned to
projects awarded by the Suffolk County Water Authority as well
as by fire, library and school systems from Melville to East
Hampton, he said.
The Ryans were arraigned on a 160-count indictment resulting
from an investigation they knew about for several months, said
David S. Smith, a lawyer who represents Trade Wind Plumbing and
its principal, Mr. Ryan.
"They have entered pleas of not guilty to all charges, and we
are confident that at the end of this case they will be
acquitted," Mr. Smith said. "This is a small company that will
survive this unfortunate, lengthy and costly process."
Melvyn K. Roth, a lawyer for Ms. Ryan, said: "I think in the
end they will be vindicated. They are reputable people. They run
a good business."
During the investigation, the wife of one of the plumbers
told an investigator that her husband worked three jobs just to
make rent payments, Mr. Catterson said.
"These are people who are looking for day work," Mr.
Catterson said. "If they get it steady, none of them are in a
bargaining position."
