Montco DA Says Condo Contractor Cut Corners

October 14, 2010 5:43 AM

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NORRISTOWN (CBS) – The builder of the Rittenhouse Club Condominiums on Sandy Street in Norristown, Pa. which was condemned earlier this year is now facing criminal charges in connection with numerous structural defects and fire code violations.

Prosecutors have charged Bruce Fazio with numerous counts of reckless endangerment and risking a catastrophe. According to court documents, they say the 46-year-old Collegeville man knew about the building’s defects and lied about the construction being completed properly.

District attorney Risa Ferman (in file photo above) says Fazio cut corners:

“Cutting every conceivable construction corner in the construction of this building so that he could take the money for himself and by doing that he put these people’s lives in jeopardy.”

Ferman would not comment further on an ongoing investigation but says they want to talk to anyone who had a hand in allowing this building to go up in the dangerous condition that it did. She says there are a lot of people out there that have to answer a lot of questions. Fazio is free on $50,000 unsecured bail.

Reported by Brad Segall, KYW Newsradio

Montco DA Says Condo Contractor Cut Corners

Bob

This guy is being railroaded. I sold them the fire alarm system for the common areas and spent a lot of time in that building. There were always building inspectors & fire inspectors there checking things out and allowing the construction to continue. Granted Fazio appears to have taken shortcuts, but the question I ask is why is the DA going after Fazio and not the Norristown Borrough building inspectors?
city may have cut corners too

From what I’ve read, it was the borough of Norristown who had clerical people signing off on building permits to expedite construction. One person in the code enforcement department was mentioned in connection with this, and the same person was put on suspension for saying a racial remark over the public radio. They went after the little people, retaliating, even measure grass height and peaking over fences for so-called violations, but not going after the contractors and businesses that make life miserable for Norristown residents with their noise, garbage, unruly tenants, etc. New guy on board now, hope he can get things corrected for this “heart of the county” town.
Rob Sands

Maybe the Montco DA should investigate why the county inspectors allowed the contractor to cut all these corners. They are supposed to inspect to be sure everything is done correctly and by code. What happened hear? Something sounds fishy to me

Rob Sands

Sorry that should have been here

FM

So what if he used illegal aliens? I’d rather have a building constructed safely by illegal aliens than legal crooks. This guy, of Italian-American heritage, is running the show, so it’s not the illegal aliens at fault (if they were indeed involved in the construction). Obviously he’s pulling this scam to pocket extra money, so why would he hire (union) workers at what, $100 an hour?

There are reported cases of the Italian mob pulling similar scams where they use lower grade materials and pocket the difference. To me, that’s worst than getting robbed because the victim who buys the house might not know about the defects until years later. I’d rather you rob me of $10,000 now than me having to pay $10,000 later and disrupt my life to fix construction problems (if the can even be fixed without gutting everything).
Alec Berg

Let’s create a list of contractors tha don’t cut corners.
The Bobster

I’m betting he hired a bunch of illegal aliens, too.