Alleged Mold-Removal Scammer Treated Newtown Middle School

By Larissa Lytwyn

Ronald C. Schongar of Microb Phase Laboratories of Clifton Park, N.Y., was arrested on July 15 on charges that his mold-removal services, including a $2,300 pilot project he performed at Newtown Middle School and a portion of Canaan House in October 2000, was fraudulent. 

“I was never really that impressed with the work after it was done,” said Dominick Posca, the school district’s maintenance and grounds supervisor. “The entire product was just rubbing alcohol. I watched it evaporate right after it was applied!”

The Air Tech’s “Microb Phase” treatment, designed to rid buildings of possible mold, fungi, and bacteria, was supposedly comprised of 95 percent rubbing alcohol and 5 percent of a noncarcinogenic trade secret additive.

According to an investigation conducted by the Fairfield Minuteman this past January, Mr Schongar was a convicted felon.

Mr Schongar, the report claims, had allegedly defrauded J.N. Futia Co, Inc, while serving as the company’s business manager from 1983 to 1985.

According to a New York Supreme Court decision, Mr Schongar forged the signature of the company’s president, Joseph Futia, on 18 corporate checks; depositing them into a “number of corporations” he set up.

In court documents, Mr Schongar had argued that his employer had authorized him to make out the checks.

He was convicted of four counts of second-degree larceny and three counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second-degree by a grand jury of the County Court of Albany County in 1987. The New York Supreme Court upheld the decision in 1991.

The court case is titled “The People of the State of New York vs. Ronald G. Schongar, also known as Ronald G. Schangar…”

He also used the company name Air Tech Environmental Services, describing himself as its vice president.

“After we saw that the work wasn’t really that impressive, we did not use Mr Schongar’s services again,” said Mr Posca.

Mr Posca said that when contacted by federal investigators this past spring, he was more than happy to comply.

“I saved a sample of the substance Mr Schongar used and provided it to the investigators,” he said.

Mr Posca said he had originally gotten information on the “Microb Phase” treatment from school district business director Ron Bienkowski, who was unavailable for comment.

Before trying the treatment, then health district director Mark Cooper received product information, known as material safety date sheets, (MSD), on the process to ensure its safety.

Mr Schongar had said the treatment was originally developed for sterilization purposes during the Korean War for MASH (mobile field hospitals). He claimed the treatment was then perfected in Kuwait during the Gulf War.

In addition to serving Newtown schools, Mr Schongar also applied treatments to Samuel Staples Elementary School in Easton, and Bristol, Manchester and Oxford schools.

Mr Schongar used a substance he called “Microbe Shield” for an anti-mold treatment in Samuel Staples that Easton police said some students claimed caused breathing problems, nausea, and the development of a mysterious rash. 

Microbe Shield is produced and distributed only by AEGIS Environmental in Midland, Mich.

Environmental officials have been working to determine the precise contents of the substances Mr Schongar sprayed, and whether it posed any health issues.

Mr Schongar was continuing his operation in Virginia at the time of his arrest.

He also has been under investigation in New Jersey and South Carolina.

Mr Schongar told the Associated Press that he did nothing wrong and that he was meeting with federal investigators to “clear up some misunderstandings.”

(Associated Press reports were used in this story.)