Press Releases
12/01/2023
Judge Sentences Former Fairfield Town Official For Environmental Crimes and Conspiring with Others to Defraud Town
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Rocky Hill, CT) - Chief State’s Attorney Patrick J. Griffin announced that the Honorable Tracy Lee Dayton today sentenced former Fairfield Public Works Superintendent Scott Bartlett, age 61, of Fairfield, to 15 years in prison, execution suspended after five years served, and five years of probation for committing environmental crimes and conspiring with others to defraud the Town of Fairfield.
As part of his plea agreement, Bartlett also is required to make restitution payments of $1 million to the Town of Fairfield for the harm caused.
Bartlett pleaded guilty on August 24, 2023 in Bridgeport Superior Court to nine felony environmental and fraud offenses, including charges of Larceny in the First Degree, Illegal Disposal of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), Disruption of a Solid Waste Disposal Area and Conspiracy to Commit the following crimes - Receiving Solid Waste at an Unpermitted Facility, Illegal Disposal of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), Discharging Materials Into the Waters of Connecticut Without a Permit, Larceny in the First Degree, Operating a Solid Waste Facility Without a Permit and Disruption of a Solid Waste Disposal Area.
In 2019, following a lengthy and in-depth investigation by the Fairfield Police Department and the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney into the suspected corrupt activities and illegal dumping operations on town property located at the Fairfield Department of Public Works (DPW), Bartlett and six others were arrested.
Under Bartlett’s plea agreement, Bartlett admitted that he and other Town officials participated in a pattern of activities that included a conspiracy between themselves and a contractor they hired to operate part of the DPW property.
The cases are being prosecuted by the Statewide Prosecution Bureau of the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney with the assistance of the Fairfield State’s Attorney’s Office, the Fairfield Police Department, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.