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Press Release
NEWARK, N.J. – A Somerset County, New Jersey, man was charged today with lying during proceedings before the U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced
Robert Riley, 42, of Far Hills, New Jersey, is charged with one count of perjury. Riley was scheduled to make his initial appearance this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Falk in Newark federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Riley owns RSR Home Construction in Bernardsville, New Jersey. Riley became the subject of an OSHA safety investigation after two separate incidents in which workers fell from a roof and were seriously injured. The workers had purportedly been tasked by Riley to perform roof repairs on a barn structure without proper training or safety equipment. As part of its investigation, OSHA took Riley’s deposition, at which he testified under oath that he never authorized anyone to perform roof repairs. Text messages from Riley to construction workers reveal that he instructed the very roof work that precipitated the fall incidents.
The perjury charge carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael Mikulka; Occupational Safety and Health Administration, under the direction of Acting Regional Administrator Richard Mendelson; and Office of the Solicitor, Region II, under the direction of Regional Solicitor Jeffrey S. Rogoff.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan L. O’Neill of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Public Protection Unit in Newark.
The charge and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Defense counsel: John A. Azzarello Esq., Morristown, New Jersey