Nearly a year ago, Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr., announced a plan to reorganize and clean up the city’s troubled Building and Safety Department. On Wednesday, the city announced that a former supervisor and deputy director from Building and Safety were suspended without pay following arraignment on charges of fraudulent property sales.

This brings to four the number of former Building and Safety department employees to face criminal charges, the result of a more than two-year police and FBI investigation of the department initiated by the mayor.

With these latest charges, it appears Dearborn is closing its investigation into the Building and Safety department. In a statement issued Wednesday, Dearborn officials said “no other city employees are expected to face criminal charges stemming from the investigation of the former department.”

Andrew Pizzino and Robert Deberardino, both of Dearborn, are the latest to face criminal charges. Both were arraigned before 19th District Judge Mark Somers. Pizzino is charged with four misdemeanor counts: two counts of fraud and two counts of ethics violations of the City of Dearborn Charter.

The charges, according to Dearborn officials, stem from a Dearborn house Pizzino purchased allegedly under fraudulent circumstances on Beech in 2004 and resold for a profit in 2005; and for a Dearborn house on Chestnut he purchased allegedly under fraudulent circumstances in 2002 and resold for a profit in 2003.

At the time of the transactions, he was a supervisor in the Building and Safety Department. He was reassigned to the Residential Services Department after a restructuring in 2009.

Deberardino was charged with two misdemeanor counts of aiding and abetting Pizzino in the alleged fraudulent property transactions in 2003 and 2005.

Deberardino was the deputy director of the Building and Safety Department at the time of the transactions. He had been reassigned to the Economic and Community Development Department following a restructuring in 2009.

Each misdemeanor fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of $500 and 93 days in jail. Each ethics violations carry a maximum penalty of $500 and 90 days in jail.

The two other Building and Safety Department employees are facing bribery charges. For that earlier story, click HERE

As we have said before, the issues in the Building and Safety Department didn’t happen overnight but the work Mayor O’Reilly is doing to clean it up is a step in the right direction.  Short term, yes, it is another negative story but we need to keep focused on the long-term payback these actions will have on improving our city.

The East Dearborn Downtown Development Authority (EDDDA) is hosting a Holiday Open House from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 16 at its office just across from Dearborn City Hall.

Food and beverages from area restaurants will be served at the EDDDA office, 13750 Michigan Ave., just two blocks west of Schaefer.

For more information, visit www.eastdowntowndearborn.com or call Melissa Kania, acting director for the EDDDA, at 313-943-3141. The event is sponsored by Bamboozles.