A certified Occupation Safety and Health Administration training agent today admitted submitting false reports and selling fraudulent training cards to carpenters to improperly establish that they were certified in safety standards, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Mark Dropala, 42, of Middle Village, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Brian Martinotti in Trenton federal court to an information charging him with one count of making and using false OSHA documents.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

“OSHA 10” training is a program for construction workers, including carpenters and laborers, to provide knowledge and skills in occupational safety standards. One of the focuses of the course is safety regulations for electrical equipment and scaffolding construction to help prevent injuries and deaths to construction workers.

Dropala was certified by OSHA’s Outreach Training Program (OTP), authorized through OSHA’s Training Organization at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He was authorized to issue OSHA 10 cards that proved to employers that the holder of the card had taken and passed a 10-hour OTP training course. Instead, Dropala sold in excess of 100 false OSHA 10 cards for approximately $200 per card.

The count to which Dropala pleaded guilty carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for July 2, 2019.

U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, under the direction of Inspector General Michael Nestor, and U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael Mikulka, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by V. Grady O’Malley, Senior Litigation Counsel of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Organized Crime/Gangs Unit in Newark.

For more information: www.justice.gov