A Middle Village expeditor has been arrested after allegedly forging documents he submitted to the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, the New York City Department of Investigation announced on Thursday.
Sean Kelly, 40, has been charged with attempted forgery and criminal possession of a forged instrument after he allegedly submitted falsified two DEP water meter installation permits for a school to the DEP’s office in the Bronx, according to the DOI. Kelly, who forged the documents in his Middle Village home, is being prosecuted in Queens by District Attorney Melinda Katz.
“Rules and regulations are in place for a reason — to protect the public,” Katz said. “The defendant in this case is accused of circumventing procedures to ensure safe installation of water meters at a school. Underhanded maneuvers like this put people at risk.”
Investigators first got wind of the scheme when a Bronx borough permit supervisor with the DEP reported to the DOI that she had received two allegedly falsified DEP water meter installation permits for a charter school at 411 Wales Ave., in the Bronx, on June 27, 2019. The DEP had no record of the permit number on the documents, nor did they have record of the required $35 filing fee.
Kelly later claimed that he was under pressure to file the forms and rather than wait in line to file them, he created them on his computer in Middle Village, according to the DOI. Neither Kelly’s client nor a plumber who signed off on the permits, knew the permits were fake, the DOI said.
However, it wasn’t the first time Kelly had falsified documents.
During their investigation, the DEP found two other fraudulent permits submitted to the Queens DEP in February 2019 in connection with a water meter installation at a residential building located at 21-22 Steinway St. According to the DOI, Kelly admitted to submitting multiple fraudulent permits.
All of the locations where Kelly allegedly falsified permits, have since passed inspection by the DEP.
Kelly is scheduled to appear in Queens Criminal Court on Dec. 16.
