The Lead Service Line Replacement Program in Newark, touted as a major success and a blueprint for other U.S. cities, was tainted Thursday after federal prosecutors alleged that one of the contractors hired to replace lead pipes didn’t fully finish the job.
JAS Group Enterprise, Inc. had received more than $10 million through its contract with New Jersey’s most populated city to implement the plan to replace all its lead water pipes after consecutive tests showed elevated lead levels exceeding the federal limit in 2017, according to U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger, who is accusing the real estate construction development firm of fraud.
From the beginning of 2020 to 2022, the company led by CEO Michael Sawyer allegedly submitted photos of pipes that were already made of copper and claimed that they had replaced them. Another person accused of defrauding the city of Newark is Latronia Sanders, JAS’s foreperson who oversaw crews replacing lead pipes, according to the criminal complaint…