Berks County construction company owner pleads guilty to falsifying drinking water reports

Attorney General Josh Shapiro has announced that the owner of a Berks County construction company has pleaded guilty to falsifying lab reports for water samples.

Matthew Barrasso, 43, of Mohnton, the owner of Barrasso Excavation in Oley Township, was arrested and charged in June with falsifying lab reports following the installation of new water mains in Berks County.

Barrasso plead guilty to tampering with public records, violating the Safe Drinking Water Act for forgery, and unsworn falsification. He was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay a $12,500 fine.

The tampering came to light when an investigation found that he changed lab results to indicate that samples from a water main in Wyomissing were negative for total coliform and E. coli. He also engaged in similar conduct in Quarryville, Lancaster County.

“The defendant put the health and wellbeing of the people of Berks and Lancaster counties at risk by falsely reporting the absence of harmful bacteria in their drinking water,” Shapiro said. “Thanks to the hard work of our environmental crimes section, we put an end to his dangerous behavior.”