| LMD Timeline | |
Aug. 29, 2000: FBI agents seize LMD billing records from the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority and issue subpoenas to Public Works supervisor Jack Barley and authority employees, including Executive Director John Hanna and Sewer Operations Manager John Terlecki. Sept. 14, 2000: Terlecki, who oversaw the LMD contract, takes paid medical leave from the authority, citing stress brought on by the investigation. Sept. 20, 2000: Public Works employees, including Barley, appear before the federal grand jury investigating LMD. Oct. 11, 2000: Records obtained by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review show that LMD overbilled the authority by at least $461,000 by dumping waste from its authority catch-basin cleaning contract at city-owned dump sites. The records show that Terlecki signed off on the invoices, approving payment to the company. Oct. 19, 2000: Deputy Mayor Sal Sirabella, a friend of Antonucci's, appears before the federal grand jury investigating LMD. Nov. 17, 2000: Antonucci is indicted on 13 counts of mail fraud for overcharging the authority. Dec. 7, 2000: Antonucci pleads not guilty to all 13 counts of mail fraud. She remains free on $10,000 bond. Dec. 19, 2000: Hanna and three other top authority executives are fired. Authority officials said the move is unrelated to the LMD investigation. They say the action is a way to prepare the authority for the privatization of its management. Jan. 16, 2001: Authority Chairman Joseph Preston appears before City Council to discuss the firings. The 90-minute meeting is highlighted by heated exchanges between Preston and Council President Bob O'Connor, who would use problems at the water authority and the Pittsburgh Housing Authority as ammunition during his unsuccessful challenge of Mayor Tom Murphy in May's Democratic mayoral primary. Preston defends the authority and notes that council members fail to take an interest in the authority until problems arise. Since the meeting, Preston has used the public-comment section of each PWSA meeting to note the absence of council members. April 6, 2001: Antonucci changes her plea to guilty, In exchange, federal prosecutors drop 12 of 13 counts of mail fraud against her. |
Antonucci, 48, of Hampton Township, faces 15 to 27 months in prison and $500,000 in fines when she appears before U.S. District Judge Robert Cindrich on Friday for sentencing on one count of mail fraud.
Recent court filings shed some light on Antonucci, whose company, LMD Inc., had a contract to clean catch basins and dispose of the waste.
Defense attorney William F. Manifesto hopes to reduce Antonucci's sentence to probation and restitution. In documents filed recently, he contends Antonucci's difficulties were complicated by the burden of caring for her ailing parents, her daughter and a mentally disabled brother.
Antonucci has not responded to interview requests.
In pleading guilty, Antonucci admitted dumping catch-basin waste at a city-owned dump site but charging the water authority as if she had used a private dump. Disposal at a private dump carries a higher fee.
The government dropped 12 other counts of mail fraud against Antonucci.
The defense contends the scam began after Antonucci moved her company to Homestead, where borough officials refused to grant her a permit to build a pit for drying catch-basin waste.
'As a result, LMD began dumping the debris at certain of the City of Pittsburgh dump sites,' Manifesto wrote in a document filed with the courts. In documents responding to the defense filing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Cessar said Antonucci could have hired qualified caregivers for her family. Antonucci's personal net worth is $817,460; that figure rises to $1.2 million when her companies' assets are included.
'Assuming some criminals, such as Antonucci, are rational, they would not engage in criminal conduct and place those circumstances at risk,' Cessar wrote. A reduced sentence 'rewards the very conduct which placed the family circumstances at risk.'
Cessar was on vacation and could not be reached for comment last week.
Authority employees and Deputy Mayor Sal Sirabella, a friend of Antonucci's, appeared before a federal grand jury investigating the case. Antonucci is the only person to face criminal charges.
Manifesto said prosecutors will not seek to reduce Antonucci's sentence, despite her cooperation.
'It is ironic when a defendant's cooperation exonerates or removes suspicion from another individual, she does not qualify for a downward departure' in her sentence, Manifesto wrote.
He declined to comment on the case.
SCHEME'S ORIGINS
A longtime business associate of Antonucci's, Charles DiNardo, helped her form LMD in 1986. Antonucci was a secretary at Spiniello Construction, for which DiNardo was manager of Pittsburgh operations.
Between 1984 and 1995, Spiniello received $56.2 million in water authority contracts - three times more than any other contractor during that time.
In addition to helping Antonucci set up LMD, DiNardo also helped her supervise LMD employees, many of whom were former Spiniello workers. DiNardo made sure the workers started on time and finished their assignments, the defense document states.
DiNardo 'recognized these men would take advantage of a woman, especially a woman as frail and fragile as Sharon,' the defense document states.
After LMD received the catch-basin contract in 1995, Antonucci dumped waste in a 30-foot-deep concrete pit at Spiniello's warehouse on 49th Street in Lawrenceville. The pit allowed the waste to dry before it was hauled to a private dump, reducing LMD's transportation costs.
Antonucci temporarily moved her company to Penn Hills, then to Seventh Avenue in Homestead. But Homestead officials refused to grant a permit to build a drying pit.
LMD then began dumping the waste at city refuse facilities. But it continued to bill the water authority as if it were dumping at a private location.
In his filing, Cessar said Antonucci should have known better.
'Antonucci's systematic and methodical false billings to the PWSA over an eighteen-month period of time, while reaping hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit, is not aberrant behavior.'
HOLDING FAMILY TOGETHER
Antonucci described her family responsibilities in a lengthy account included in Manifesto's filing.
Antonucci's parents, Bernard, 81, and Wilma, 73, have a 'very antagonistic' relationship, according to the filing. In addition to her blind father and her frail mother, Antonucci also cares for her brother William, 46, who is mentally disabled.
'My parents, in their old-fashioned ways of thinking, have either denied or hidden his disability,' Antonucci wrote. 'In doing so, William has missed out on many of the opportunities for both education and work which have been developed to help the mentally handicapped establish a semi-independent lifestyle.'
Antonucci said she visits her parents daily to clean and cook, and to make doctor appointments and household repairs. Her father often goes to work with her, and they are in constant communication with her brother via walkie-talkies.
'In addition to maintaining the household, I have gone out of my way to hold our family together for the last several years. Particularly, I try to make a point of bringing everyone together for holidays and family celebrations,' Antonucci wrote. 'I do not think my mother and brother would be included in family gatherings if left to someone else because they require special attention and care.'
Antonucci has two other siblings, Bernadette Antonucci, 52, and John Antonucci, 51. The document said Antonucci was 'deputized' as the family caregiver several years ago when her brother and sister refused to help her parents.
'I am ashamed that I don't help her, but I can't do what she does,' Bernadette wrote as part of the filing.
Dave Copeland can be reached at dcopeland@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7922.
