Bridgeport builds case against fire inspectors

JOHN BURGESON jburgeson@ctpost.com
Article Last Updated: 03/10/2008 12:12:27 AM EDT


BRIDGEPORT — Four city fire inspectors have been fired after a lengthy investigation showed they spent workdays visiting friends, taking care of rental properties and spending time at home and doughnut shops.
Central to the investigation conducted by Fire Department officials were the readouts from GPS units in the inspectors' new city-owned minivans. The devices revealed that the four were spending much of their time at "unassigned addresses," often for hours on end, officials said.

The department also found that the four inspectors failed to carry out dozens of assigned inspections of apartment buildings and other multi-unit structures. In many cases, the inspectors filed false reports and e-mails about these assignments to give an impression that they were on the job, officials said.

In records released after a Freedom of Information request by the Connecticut Post, the four were also found to have run afoul of a lengthy list of department regulations, ranging from failure to carry out their oaths of office to being disrespectful of authority.

In one instance, the department corroborated its findings by hiring a private detective to tail the inspector, who found that the inspector was spending much of his workday at his rental properties.

This surveillance, conducted by Markle Investigations Inc., revealed the inspector would park his red Fire Department minivan behind one of his properties, and used his personal vehicle to take care of personal errands.

The four recently dismissed inspectors are Stephen Vitka of Stratford, Frank Gerardi of Bridgeport, Ronald Morales of Clinton and Manuel Alicia of Bridgeport. They were earning upward of $65,000 a year including overtime, according to Fire Department spokesman Michael Giannotti.

The investigations into their whereabouts took place from May to September of 2007 for Vitka, Gerardi and Alicia, and from August through October 2007 for Morales. Vitka was the inspector tailed by the private eye. None of the men was aware that the technology of the Global Positioning System was being used to track their daily travels. Presumably, from this point forward, city employees will know that this is a tool that their supervisors are willing to use if they are suspected of goofing off.

John Bohannon, the lawyer for the Fire Department in proceedings against the inspectors, said that, to his knowledge, this is the first time in the nation that a municipality has used GPS evidence to discipline employees.

"I've had attorneys calling me from all over to ask me about this," he said. "This case has been somewhat groundbreaking — our use of GPS evidence is 100 percent legitimate."

In January, a state Superior Court ruled — over the objections of the fire inspectors — that the city could use GPS evidence to bolster its case against the inspectors, Bohannon said.

"And it makes sense to do it this way, because to have to hire private detectives to check on city employees is prohibitively expensive for taxpayers," he said.

Bohannon added that the case has significance beyond ferreting out employees who slack off on the job.

"The city of Bridgeport is fortunate to have an excellent Fire Department, but these inspectors were not only putting the people of the city of Bridgeport at risk, but their fellow firefighters in danger, too," he said. "I don't have to tell you that fighting fires is highly dangerous work."

He said that he expects the firefighters to appeal their dismissals in court. "But I think that the evidence speaks for itself."

An analysis of the data collected by the GPS system indicates that Vitka spent an average of 22 hours and 39 minutes per week performing "unaccounted for" activities.

For example, during the week of May 28, 2007, he was assigned to inspect nine buildings and conducted only one of those inspections, according to the records. He also spent only five minutes performing inspections that week and had 24 hours and 54 minutes of "unaccounted for" activity.

Vitka also visited 84 "unassigned" addresses during his 19 weeks of surveillance, 70 of which were properties that he owned, according to the fire officials' investigation. During that period, he missed 104 inspection assignments, according to the documents.

Contacted by the Post, Vitka said that he doesn't think the space-age spying is fair. "Industrywide, I don't think it's done that way, but time will tell," he said.

He declined further comment.

Bob Whitbread, president of Local 834 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, the union representing Bridgeport firefighters, said that he could not comment, other than to say that "some of the men have hired lawyers."

In the 19 weeks that Frank Gerardi was under surveillance, he had an average of 26 hours and 56 minutes of "unaccounted for" hours. During the week of June 18, 2007, for example, he was assigned 14 inspections, performed one inspection, spent 45 minutes on inspections and spent 22 hours and 36 minutes at unassigned addresses.

Gerardi also was tracked to more than 120 unassigned addresses during the 19-week period. He also failed to perform 153 assigned inspections during that time, officials said.

Alicea had an average of 18 hours and 43 minutes of "unaccounted for" activities per week. And he also visited about 200 unassigned address in the 19 weeks. He was also accused of filing 26 false inspection reports for the period.

Morales was monitored for 10 weeks and had an average of 15 hours and 48 minutes of "unaccounted for" time per week during that period in which he visited about 120 "unauthorized addresses," according to fire officials.

He failed to conduct 46 assigned inspections in August 2007 and 44 in September, the report states.

Gerardi was terminated on Jan. 25, Alicia on Feb. 25, and Vitka and Morales were terminated on Feb. 29.

"They were terminated for defrauding a municipality," said Fire Chief Brian Rooney. He said last week that he did not want to comment further on the case, because of possible litigation.

However, he did say that other members of the Fire Department are being investigated for similar abuses.

Mayor Bill Finch commended Rooney for pursuing the investigation.

"This is good for the taxpayers of the city of Bridgeport," Finch said. "We will be using this technology with other departments, too — I know that this won't make me a popular guy in City Hall, but taxpayers work hard for their money and we owe this to them."

The mayor added that his administration is in the process of figuring out the number of city-owned vehicles used by municipal employees, both "take-home" vehicles and those used only during work hours.

"I know this sounds like information that's easy to get, but it's actually a lot more difficult than it looks," Finch said. Typically used for in-car navigation devices, GPS equipment is increasingly used by employers to keep track of their workers. The devices are the size of a pack of cigarettes — or even smaller — and can be easily hidden in vehicles, equipment and luggage. They are available from supply houses that sell security gear.

For employees, it's a double-edged sword. Some resent having their the bosses know where they are every minute. But others like knowing that the home office knows where they are in the event of a sudden illness or if they are traveling in remote, unfamiliar areas.

Parents frequently use GPS-equipped cell phones to keep track of their teenagers. For years, the shipping and transport industry has kept tabs on ships, freight trains and trucks this way.

The tracking system uses a network of 31 satellites in a medium Earth orbit. Each satellite is equipped with a highly accurate atomic clock. A GPS device on Earth can determine its position by comparing the time signals from four or more of these satellites with its own internal crystal oscillator clock, which is also of very high accuracy. The position — latitude, longitude and altitude — of the GPS unit is then computed using a sophisticated triangulation program.