A Wilmerding asbestos removal company run by a twice-convicted drug felon is the apparent low bidder on a project to do more than a quarter of a million dollars' worth of work for the Pittsburgh Housing Authority.
Xpert Environmental Contracting wants $276,550 to remove asbestos-laden window sills, exhaust flues and ductwork from 42 units at St. Clair Village. The original low bidder dropped out of the running for the publicly funded contract after learning it had not included costs for all the work required.
Xpert Environmental is operated by Michael Shawn Frawley, 35, of Swissvale. Frawley pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Pittsburgh to his second major cocaine offense in the past eight years. He had between 15 and 50 kilograms of cocaine shipped from California to Pittsburgh during 2004 and 2005, investigators said.
Housing Authority officials said they knew about Frawley's criminal record and his role with Xpert Environmental.
"We are aware of the allegations ... but we have to look into them," said Garland McAdoo Jr., the Housing Authority's lead attorney. "We can't throw out a bid just because of an allegation. We're still in the process of getting information." Bidding closed Oct. 2; the contract is not scheduled to be awarded until the board meets in November.
This is not the first public project Frawley and Xpert Environmental have sought.
After completing a demolition project in December for the city of Youngstown, Ohio, Xpert Environmental was paid $25,000 by Pittsburgh's Urban Redevelopment Authority for an asbestos-removal job on Federal Street in the North Side.
"They were the low bidder," URA general counsel Don Kortlandt said. "It was a commonplace, everyday job. They executed the work to everybody's satisfaction."
URA consultant SE Technologies observed the work and approved it. The Allegheny County Health Department also signed off, Kortlandt said.
Frawley is listed as the contact on 313 projects Xpert Environmental has shown interest in over the past year, according to the data on the Pittsburgh Builders Exchange's Web site. The company often posts a note on bids seeking demolition and asbestos work as a subcontractor, although it occasionally bids for a project outright -- such as the St. Clair Village job.
The "registered organizer" of Xpert Environmental is Frawley's wife, Tracey, according to a September 2005 affidavit supporting a search warrant for Xpert Environmental. However, his longtime girlfriend, Krista Insogna, told federal investigators last year that Michael Frawley is the owner, according to the affidavit.
Court records say Frawley is a projects manager with Xpert Environmental and is paid $52,000 a year.
Frawley, who pleaded guilty last week to cocaine and money laundering conspiracy charges, was released from federal prison in July 2002 after serving five years for conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine.
Pennsylvania law allows state agencies to disqualify someone from public bids for up to three years for various financial, criminal and labor violations. Drug convictions are not listed as a reason.
Allegheny County's administrative code does not prevent public projects from being awarded to convicted felons, county solicitor Mike Wojcik said.
"But when we go through the whole process and due diligence, if something comes up of that nature, then the county has the ability to disqualify anyone for good reason -- and this appears to be good reason," Wojcik said.
A check of county records did not reveal any contracts with Xpert Environmental. Pittsburgh records show no business deals between the city and the company.
In June 2005, Frawley was snagged by investigators trying to stop a major international drug operation. Narcotics agents in Culver City, Calif., said they discovered $98,000 in cash that Frawley attempted to send to a man in Beverly Hills via Federal Express, using Xpert Environmental as the return address. Other officers investigating a major cocaine pipeline between Mexico and Los Angeles intercepted a telephone conversation about the cash shipment between Frawley and Eden Hafaja, 37, an Israel-born Palestinian who was living in Woodland Hills, Calif.
Hafaja, who is in the United States illegally and has at least 27 aliases, was connected to one of the leaders of the Mexican drug ring, according to testimony from a California narcotics agent.
In July 2005, investigators intercepted another telephone conversation between Frawley and Hafaja about a drug shipment. A 30-pound FedEx package was tracked from California to Pittsburgh, where authorities recovered three kilograms of cocaine concealed inside a welded torque converter for a truck axle.
Later searches of Xpert Environmental and two storage units in Monroeville netted financial records and an additional two kilograms of cocaine, investigators said.
Another 12 kilograms of cocaine and two stuffed torque converters were found in Hafaja's apartment in California. Hafaja pleaded guilty last week to cocaine and money laundering charges and is being held at the Allegheny County Jail.
Hafaja will be sentenced Jan. 26. Frawley's sentencing hearing is scheduled for Feb. 16.
