NEW YORK—A former NYC Department of Buildings inspector was convicted Friday of faking business records for six crane inspections in Manhattan in 2008.
New York State Supreme Court found Edward Marquette, 51, guilty of two counts of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree, which is a felony. He was also found guilty on two counts of falsifying business records in the second degree and official misconduct.
Safety on work sites—especially in regard to massive cranes—has come into focus repeatedly over the years after accidents happened. The last accident, on the West Side at Hudson Yards and the No. 7 line extension project in April, prompted an order by MTA Capital Construction President Michael Horodniceanu for inspection of all cranes.
The incident also prompted city officials to look closer at safety practices for crane operators. Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced several weeks later that stricter licensing and testing requirements for operators would follow national standards rather than city testing.
The conviction of Marquette, a former inspector with the city’s Department of Buildings Division of Cranes and Derricks, displayed another aspect of safety.
“There’s no way of knowing if any of the six cranes the defendant claimed to have inspected were safe, because he never actually inspected them,” said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., in a statement.
Sentencing for Marquette is expected Oct. 1. The defendant was acquitted on charges that had accused him of forging inspection records for a crane that later caused an accident on the Upper East Side on March 15, 2008.
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