A Blue Point man has been sentenced to a year in prison for covering up the death of one of his employees. The sentencing was announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD).
Richard Zagger was a supervisor for Northridge Construction Corporation, located in East Patchogue. As part of his duties, Zagger was responsible for overseeing Northridge employees who were assembling a metal shed on the construction company’s office property. During the assembly, one of the employees fell from the shed’s roof, which was improperly secured, roof and died.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigated the employee’s death and identified several violations of worker safety standards, including the failure to maintain the stability of a metal structure at all times during construction. Additionally, Zagger made false statements and conspired with others to make false statements to obstruct OSHA’s investigation of the accident.
Northridge Construction Corporation was previously sentenced to pay a $100,000 fine and complete a five-year term of probation for violating a worker safety standard causing the death of an employee and making false statements during the subsequent investigation.
On July 1, Zagger, 58, was sentenced to one year in prison and two years of supervised release after previously pleading guilty to a four-count indictment charging him with conspiracy and obstruction of official proceedings relating to an investigation into a fatal construction accident.
Senior Trial Attorneys Daniel Dooher and Richard J. Powers and Trial Attorney Rachel Roberts of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section prosecuted the case.