DEC calls lawyer’s characterization “specious and callous, especially given the nature of Mr. Candelario’s injuries.”
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. (Aug. 7, 2026) — Nine months after a chemical explosion left a maintenance worker burned and blinded at the Westchester Family Courthouse parking garage, Talk of the Sound has obtained a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation letter laying out the findings of a criminal investigation into the incident, reviewed video of the Planning Board meeting where the property’s next phase of development was approved five months earlier, and compiled the status of the legal claims, records requests and unanswered questions still pending in the case.
This is a comprehensive recap of where the investigation stands as of Aug. 7, 2026.
Part One: What DEC’s Revocation Letter Reveals
DEC’s June 1, 2026 Notice of Intent to Revoke the Brownfield Cleanup Program Certificate of Completion for BCP Site No. C360180 — the former Cottage-Garden Auto Repair site beneath 26 Garden Street — lays out findings from an investigation by DEC’s Bureau of Environmental Crimes Investigations, known as BECI, into the Nov. 4, 2025 incident that injured worker Jose Candelario. The letter is addressed to attorney Linda Shaw and to Mark Stagg and Mark Fonte of The Mark 95 LLC and The Mark 95 II LLC, and to Joseph Simone of MJ Garden LLC, MJ Garden II LLC, MJ Garden III LLC and MJ Garden IV LLC.
The letter states that the Site was issued a Conditional Track 1 Certificate of Completion in 2020, tied to a five-year groundwater sampling period. DEC and the applicant agreed to two tolling agreements, dated Dec. 10, 2025 and April 29, 2026, extending that review period specifically to give DEC time to investigate the November incident. Under state regulations, the applicant had 30 days from the effective date of the June 1 notice to request a hearing, or the site’s liability protections would be modified or vacated 31 days after that date. Talk of the Sound has asked DEC whether a hearing was requested and whether the COC’s liability protections have now actually been rescinded or revoked, and has not yet received a response.
The BECI investigation
According to the letter, DEC Environmental Conservation Officer Plows responded to a report of sodium persulfate and sodium hydroxide, or lye, being poured down a monitoring well and exploding in an employee’s face at 11 Garden St. New Rochelle Building Commissioner Paul Vacca met Officer Plows at the location and showed him where the incident occurred, the letter states.
Photographs taken by the New Rochelle Fire Department and provided to DEC show a one-pound container of “Crystals of Household 100% Lye Drain Opener” and a bag of Klozur® SP sodium persulfate at the site, along with powder visible on the concrete around the open monitoring well, according to the letter.
The letter identifies the injured employee as Candelario and the witness to the incident as Robinson Alexander Montes Cuebas. Cuebas, who called 911, told officers at the scene that this was not the first time Candelario had poured the powder down one of the monitoring wells, and that Candelario had a close relationship with the property owner, identified as Mark Fonte, for whom Candelario “does things,” according to the letter.
The bodycam interview
DEC’s letter states it obtained New Rochelle Police Department body-worn camera footage of an interview with Candelario at the hospital on Nov. 5, 2025, and quotes portions of that interview. In it, Candelario tells officers that “before starting construction, you have to test the water under the ground,” that “we have to clean the wells out before the inspectors get there,” and that he had done so three times previously. Asked whether the property owner, Mark (Fonte), had asked him for a favor to clean the well because “he’s soon to start the new construction of the new building,” Candelario responded, “Yes.” Candelario told officers the chemicals were purchased on Amazon and supplied by Fonte, who left them for him at the courthouse.
DEC’s rebuttal of Linda Shaw’s account
DEC’s letter states that Candelario and Cuebas’s accounts directly contradict a Nov. 12, 2025 email report from Shaw, which characterized Candelario as a “contractor/maintenance worker” hired to fix a “stormwater sewer system” who “thought it was a cleanout drain” when he opened the well. DEC’s letter calls that characterization “specious and callous, especially given the nature of Mr. Candelario’s injuries.”
DEC’s letter states that because Candelario indicated this was the third time he had introduced chemicals to the well, “there is no way for the DEC to determine how long the well(s) may have been compromised” and therefore “no way DEC can rely on the data produced from the well(s).” The letter cites violations of multiple sections of the site’s Site Management Plan and Environmental Easement, and states the applicant’s actions violated regulations prohibiting activities that interfere with an ongoing or completed remedial program.
“In summary, the DEC concludes that the Applicant intentionally provided chemicals to an untrained employee and directed that employee to introduce those chemicals to monitoring wells at the Site,” the letter states. “The Applicant’s actions resulted in serious injuries to this untrained employee.”
DEC’s letter describes Candelario as having been “burned and partially blinded.” A separate personal injury lawsuit filed by Candelario in Bronx County Supreme Court in May 2026 alleges he was rendered “totally blind in both eyes.” Talk of the Sound has asked DEC to clarify the discrepancy between the two accounts and has not yet received a response.
A chemist’s assessment
Dr. William Carroll, an Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at Indiana University, Bloomington, who reviewed safety data sheets for both chemicals involved, told Talk of the Sound that sodium persulfate is not typically used as a drain cleaner. Dr. Carroll said the combination of sodium persulfate and sodium hydroxide — a process known as base or alkaline activation — generates highly reactive free radicals known to be useful in destroying organic pollutants in environmental remediation, consistent with the chemical’s authorized use at the site during a 2020 groundwater remediation program. Both chemicals’ manufacturer safety data sheets (Sodium Persulfate, Sodium hydroxide) restrict their recommended use to laboratory chemicals and advise against other uses; the sodium hydroxide sheet warns the product “may cause blindness or permanent eye damage,” and both sheets list the other chemical as incompatible for combined use.
DEC’s other responses, and outstanding questions
In response to separate questions from Talk of the Sound, DEC confirmed Spill No. 2506855 was marked closed on July 9, 2026. DEC also stated its investigation has concluded and that “no criminal charges have been brought at this time,” though DEC did not directly confirm or deny whether BECI made a referral to a prosecuting authority. Talk of the Sound has asked DEC to clarify this point, along with how DEC/BECI’s process for pursuing criminal cases works generally, and has not yet received a response.
DEC declined to respond to claims made by Albert J. Pirro Jr., an attorney representing site owner MJ Garden III LLC, who told Talk of the Sound in June that Candelario was instructed to clean a drain, not a monitoring well, and that the Certificate of Completion revocation is “already the subject of correspondence and conferences” with DEC.
DEC said it does not comment on pending litigation and pointed to its June 1 letter as its position.
Talk of the Sound has separately asked DEC whether it was provided CCTV footage or NRPD body-worn camera video beyond what is quoted in the June 1 letter, and has requested copies; DEC has not yet responded.
Talk of the Sound has also sent additional questions directly to Pirro, citing DEC’s letter, including whether his client requested a hearing on the COC revocation, whether he has records substantiating his earlier claim that the Probation Department made prior odor complaints that were “successfully addressed,” and whether he or his client have any response to DEC’s findings regarding the bodycam interview. Talk of the Sound has not yet received a response.
Part Two: A Planning Board Approval With No Mention of the Brownfield
Talk of the Sound reviewed video of the New Rochelle Planning Board’s May 27, 2025 public hearing on Application PB 18-2024, MJ Garden LLC’s site plan for the third and final phase of the Garden Street development — a 28-story, 211-unit affordable housing tower at 26 Garden Street, adjoining the courthouse and its parking garage.
The hearing, chaired by then-Board Chair Sarah Dodds-Brown, at which Kathleen Bradshaw, general counsel for MJ Garden, architect Brian Newman of Newman Design, and civil engineer William Schneider presented the project, included no discussion of the site’s status as a state-designated brownfield, its Site Management Plan, its Environmental Easement, or its remediation history.
Board members’ questions focused on the building’s facade design, noise mitigation for a rooftop recreation area, and a related zoning reallocation of housing units, discussed by Kevin Kain, the city’s Director of Planning and Sustainability, in the context of the state’s environmental review process.
Mark Fonte spoke during the hearing, responding without formal introduction to a board member’s question about noise mitigation for the recreation space. Asked when construction might begin, given ongoing bridge construction nearby, applicant representatives told the board they expected work to start “within twelve months,” and that timing also depended on financing.
The board voted to approve the site plan, with one dissenting vote, and imposed additional conditions requiring the applicant to return for administrative review of the garage facade design and interior sound standards.
It’s important to note the November 2025 incident occurred five months after this hearing, so the applicant could not have disclosed it at the time. But the site has been enrolled in New York’s Brownfield Cleanup Program since at least 2020, with a Site Management Plan and Environmental Easement predating the hearing by years. New York’s standard Full Environmental Assessment Form, used in state environmental review for larger projects, requires an applicant to disclose whether a project site appears in DEC’s Environmental Site Remediation database and to describe the site’s status if so.
Talk of the Sound has sent written questions, routed through the city clerk’s office, to current Planning Board Chair Kate Mercado, former Chair Dodds-Brown, Kain, and Vacca, asking whether the board’s review considered the site’s brownfield status, whether a Full or Short Environmental Assessment Form was used for PB 18-2024, whether the applicant disclosed the site’s Brownfield Cleanup Program status on that form, whether the board believes its review adequately accounted for DEC’s subsequent findings, whether the board intends to reconsider its approval, and in what capacity Fonte participated in the hearing. Talk of the Sound has not yet received a response.
Part Three: The Legal Track, and What’s Left on the Table
Notice of claim and lawsuit, explained
Candelario has pursued two separate legal filings in connection with the incident, each serving a different purpose under New York law.
The first, a Notice of Claim filed Jan. 13, 2026, and received by the City of New Rochelle’s Law Department on Jan. 20, 2026, named Westchester County, the City of New Rochelle, the New Rochelle Industrial Development Agency, and the City of New Rochelle Corporation for Local Development as respondents, and stated damages of $75 million. A Notice of Claim is a required first step under state law before a person can sue a government entity; it must generally be filed within 90 days of an incident, often before an attorney has fully determined who bears legal responsibility. Because of that tight deadline, it is common practice to name any government entity with a plausible connection to a case in order to preserve the option to sue later, even if a narrower lawsuit is ultimately filed against other parties. State law also requires a Notice of Claim to state a specific dollar figure, since it functions as formal notice and a settlement demand to the municipality.
Editor’s note: Talk of the Sound’s earlier reporting on this matter drew on Candelario’s Notice of Claim, which referred generically to “Newman architects” among the parties allegedly responsible for the incident. That reporting was accurate to the source document. After publication, a firm by that name contacted this publication to say it was not the entity involved. Counsel for the firm supplied the Verified Complaint filed in Bronx County Supreme Court, which identifies the correct defendant as Newman Design Architects, PLLC. Talk of the Sound corrected the earlier article accordingly.
The Bronx lawsuit
The second filing, a lawsuit brought in Bronx County Supreme Court on May 12, 2026 (Index No. 809291/2026E), names Mark Fonte, Trifont Realty LLC, MJ Garden LLC, MJ Garden II LLC, MJ Garden III LLC, Stagg Group LLC, Simone Development Corporation, Simone Development Company L.L.C., Front Door Management Corp., Hutch Management LLC, BE Bronx Builders LLC, Newman Design Architects PLLC, and The Mark 95, LLC as defendants. It does not name Westchester County, the City of New Rochelle, or any other government entity, and unlike the Notice of Claim, it does not state a specific dollar figure — New York law (CPLR §3017(c)) generally prohibits personal injury lawsuits from stating a specific dollar amount in the complaint itself, stating only that damages exceed the jurisdictional limits of the state’s lower courts.
The complaint alleges Candelario was instructed by Fonte to clean drainpipes using powdered lye and bleach that Fonte supplied, and that an “instantaneous exothermic reaction” caused the chemicals to blow back into Candelario’s face as he poured them into the well. It alleges negligence, gross negligence, and violations of New York Labor Law §§200, 240 and 241, and describes the monitoring well and pipe system as an “ultra-hazardous activity” for which the defendants are strictly liable.
As of June 18, 2026, only Simone Development Corporation, Simone Development Company L.L.C., and Hutch Management LLC had answered the complaint, denying the allegations and raising 17 affirmative defenses, including that Candelario was a “recalcitrant worker,” that his conduct was the sole proximate cause of the accident, and that Bronx County is an improper venue. Those defendants also filed cross-claims against Fonte and the remaining co-defendants seeking indemnification.
The “recalcitrant worker” defense is a recognized doctrine under New York Labor Law §240(1), which otherwise imposes strict liability on owners and contractors for certain construction-site injuries. Under the defense, a defendant can avoid liability by showing a worker had adequate safety devices available, knew he was expected to use them, chose for no good reason not to, and would not have been injured had he made a different choice. The New York Court of Appeals narrowed the defense’s practical reach in a 2020 decision, Biaca-Neto v. Boston Road II Housing Development Fund Corp., ruling that a jury, rather than a judge, must typically decide whether a worker truly understood he was expected to use safer alternatives, particularly where an employer’s own practices or instructions may have contributed to the worker’s choice.
Newman Design Architects PLLC’s time to answer was extended by stipulation to July 27, 2026. Court records show no answer or further extension has been filed by Newman Design Architects PLLC as of this writing, meaning the firm’s extended deadline has passed.
Court records also show attorneys have now appeared for Mark Fonte. Lester Schwab Katz & Dwyer, LLP filed Notices of Appearance on July 23, 2026, on behalf of Fonte, Trifont Realty LLC, MJ Garden LLC, MJ Garden III LLC, Stagg Group LLC, and Front Door Management Corp. Under a stipulation filed the same day, those defendants’ time to answer was extended to Aug. 24, 2026, with the defendants agreeing to waive any defense based on improper service. This is the first appearance of counsel for Fonte, who DEC’s investigation and the hospital bodycam interview identify as the person who directed Candelario to introduce chemicals into the monitoring well and who supplied the chemicals used.
Two defendants, MJ Garden II LLC and BE Bronx Builders, LLC, along with The Mark 95, LLC, do not yet have an attorney of record on the docket and are listed as appearing pro se.
As of this writing, the case remains in the pre-litigation pleadings stage; no Request for Judicial Intervention has been filed, so no justice has been assigned and the case is not yet subject to the court’s e-Track notification system.
Other DEC documents
Two documents in DEC’s public file for the site remain under review by Talk of the Sound: a 2025 Periodic Review Report, dated Aug. 14, 2025 — roughly three months before the incident — and an Easement Extinguishment Summary Report Request, dated Sept. 16, 2025, filed roughly seven weeks before the incident. The latter would have sought to release the site’s environmental easement entirely, and its timing relative to both the incident and the five-year COC review deadline in December 2025 is a focus of continuing review.
OSHA reporting status unclear
Talk of the Sound has separately been in contact with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration regarding whether the incident was reported. Erika Ruthman, Deputy Regional Director for OSHA’s Eastern Regional Office, confirmed on July 9, 2026, that “OSHA has no record of any complaint, serious incident report, or inspection” related to the incident.
Talk of the Sound has since followed up with OSHA, providing a copy of DEC’s June 1 letter and asking specifically whether Candelario’s injuries — described in that letter and in the Bronx lawsuit as resulting in permanent loss of vision — met the threshold for mandatory reporting under 29 CFR 1904.39, which generally requires employers to report a work-related loss of an eye to OSHA within 24 hours. Talk of the Sound has also asked whether OSHA has any record of such a report being filed since July 9, and what it would mean if a required report was never made. OSHA has not yet responded to those questions.
Westchester County and state court officials
Talk of the Sound has made repeated attempts since June 30, 2026, to obtain comment from both Westchester County, the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, and the New York State Office of Court Administration, the entities that effectively share tenancy of the building — the county’s Family Court and Probation Department operate there, the DA’s Office prosecutes cases there, and the state’s court system runs Family Court proceedings on site. Neither has substantively responded.
Talk of the Sound asked the Office of Court Administration whether Family Court operations were disrupted on Nov. 4, 2025, whether OCA or court personnel were made aware of the incident at the time, whether OCA has since been notified of DEC’s Certificate of Completion revocation, and whether OCA has any comment on the safety of court employees, litigants, or the public who use the building. Those questions, first sent June 30 and followed up July 15 and again Aug. 7, remain unanswered.
Talk of the Sound separately asked Westchester County Communications Director Catherine Cioffi whether the county was notified of the incident at the time, whether it has since been notified of the COC revocation, and whether the county can confirm claims made by Pirro that the county’s Probation Department had previously reported and resolved odor complaints at the site. Those questions, also first sent June 30 and followed up July 15 and again Aug. 7, remain unanswered as well.
In the July 15 follow-ups, Talk of the Sound noted that the Notice of Claim states the monitoring well involved in the incident was located in a parking area reserved for judges, and raised a broader question about the site’s underlying safety: DEC’s records show contamination levels in groundwater at the site had risen rather than fallen in the years before the incident — trichloroethylene levels in one monitoring well rebounded to roughly 17 times the state standard by 2022 — ahead of the five-year Certificate of Completion review deadline that fell in December 2025. Talk of the Sound asked both offices to address whether this history raises concerns about the safety of the property for county and state employees, litigants, and the public who use the building.
Other outreach
The Westchester County District Attorney’s office has not responded to questions submitted regarding the case. The New York Attorney General’s office, through spokesperson Sophie Hamlin, responded that “our office doesn’t appear to have any connection here.” Natascia Ayers, Candelario’s attorney, has not responded to requests for comment. Fuad Dahan of SESI Consulting Engineers, the site’s remedial engineer of record, has not responded; email to his listed address has bounced. Talk of the Sound has also reached out to the Westchester County Police Department’s public information office and to the New York State Office of Court Administration’s press office for records related to the incident.
Records requests and appeal
Talk of the Sound filed a Freedom of Information Law request with the City of New Rochelle on June 30, 2026, seeking police and fire incident reports, body-worn camera footage, photographs, correspondence between the city and DEC, correspondence between the city and companies tied to the site, and any litigation hold notice related to the incident. The city’s response, received July 17, 2026, included only a single police CAD/event report and no other responsive records.
Talk of the Sound has filed a formal appeal of that response, addressed to City Manager Wilfredo Melendez rather than Corporation Counsel Dawn Warren, who is a plaintiff in pending federal litigation against this publication. The appeal notes that DEC’s June 1 letter references Fire Department photographs and a police body-worn camera interview that were not produced, and that the city’s own CAD report references a detective’s photographs and a video request for nearby camera footage that were also not produced.
Talk of the Sound has separately filed a Freedom of Information Law request with Westchester County seeking any Department of Probation records of prior odor complaints at the site, following Pirro’s claim that such complaints had been made and resolved on multiple prior occasions.
This is an ongoing investigation. Talk of the Sound will report further as outstanding questions, records requests and appeals are resolved.
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This article was prepared with the assistance of AI tools under the direction and editing of Robert Cox.
Have information about this story? Email robertcox@talkofthesound (preferred) or contact via WhatsApp: +353 089 972 0669.