Baltimore Lead Inspector Pleads Guilty to Falsifying
Lead Inspection Certificate

BALTIMORE, MD (March 18, 2008) - Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced today that Philip L. Rossetti, 59, of Baltimore pled guilty in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City with illegally falsifying a lead certificate to the Maryland Department of the Environment. Judge Timothy J. Doory imposed a six month suspended sentence, a fine of $5,000 of which $4,000 was suspended, two years probation and ordered Rosetti to perform 100 hours of community service.

The investigation revealed that Rossetti, an accredited lead inspector, falsified a Lead Paint Risk Reduction Certificate for a property at 4016 Penhurst Avenue in Baltimore City after an inspection on December 9, 2006. The false certificate was discovered by the Department of the Environment’s Lead Accreditation and Oversight Division when one of the documents submitted by Rossetti contained a “Supervisor’s Statement of Work” from an abatement contractor whose accreditation had expired. Investigation subsequently disclosed that the contractor’s signature had been photocopied from a pre-signed, but otherwise blank, Statement of Work form. A joint inspection of the property conducted by the Department of the Environment and the Environmental Crimes Unit revealed numerous discrepancies between lead risk reduction conditions reported by Rossetti and those observed by the joint inspectors.

This conviction follows an investigation conducted by the Environmental Crimes Unit of the Office of the Attorney General with the assistance of the Maryland Department of Environment’s Lead Accreditation and Oversight Division.