By: Najla Alexander
Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin today announced that a state grand jury has voted to file criminal charges against a Long Island man in connection with a deadly May 2022 fire at a Waste Management facility in Elizabeth, which resulted in the death of a facility employee.
NJ officials stated that Mark Cadieux, 55, of Lynbrook, N.Y., a trucking and warehouse business owner, has been arrested and charged.
Authorities say Cadieux has been charged with first-degree aggravated manslaughter, second-degree manslaughter, second-degree violation, or failure to perform a duty imposed by a law intended to protect public health and safety, second-and third-degree causing or risking widespread injury or damage, and numerous environmental hazardous waste charges.
Following a detention hearing, the court ordered that Cadieux be released with conditions, and at his arraignment on July 3, the defendant pleaded not guilty.
“This case provides a stark illustration of how the irresponsible and improper disposal of hazardous waste can have a clear, devastating, and immediate impact on public health and safety,” said Attorney General Platkin.
“This careless action resulted in a large quantity of highly flammable materials going into the waste stream, effectively sending the workers at this facility in Elizabeth a firebomb that was waiting to go off. And when it did, it had lethal consequences.”
“Every worker at that Waste Management facility and every firefighter who had to respond to try to put out this multi-alarm fire had their lives put at risk by reckless, criminal behavior,” said Derek Nececkas, Interim Director of the Division of Criminal Justice.
“Our Environmental Crimes Unit will hold polluters accountable, particularly when their disregard for dumping laws leads to an outcome as egregious as this — a fatal, massive blaze in one of New Jersey’s most populous urban areas.”
According to officials, the investigation of the fatal fire involved interviews with witnesses, collection of forensic evidence, review of surveillance footage, and autopsy results from the medical examiner.
After hearing the evidence from the investigation, the state grand jury concluded its deliberations and voted “true bill,” determining that criminal charges against Cadieux were warranted, officials said.
According to the indictment, officials say, on or about May 10, 2022, Cadieux unlawfully disposed of over 9,000 pounds of highly flammable dry shampoo aerosol cans into a dumpster he rented in Linden.
The dumpster was transported to the Waste Management facility on Julia Street in Elizabeth.
According to officials, a multiple-alarm fire broke out within minutes of the aerosol cans being dumped out of the dumpster at the facility.
It resulted in the death of facility worker Czeslaw Solarz, 69, of Union Township.
The indictment alleges that because the dry shampoo aerosol cans exhibited a characteristic of ignitability, in other words, were flammable gases, Cadieux disposed of hazardous waste when he discarded the aerosol cans into the dumpster, officials say.
The indictment further alleges that Cadieux did not have authorization from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to dispose of the aerosol cans in this manner, authorities said.
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