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East Village Building Owner & Four Others Indicted For Fatal Explosion
By
Scott Heins
Published Feb 11, 2016
Modified Feb 11, 2016
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By
Scott Heins
Published Feb 11, 2016
Modified Feb 11, 2016
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Five people are facing criminal charges in connection to the massive explosion that rocked the East Village last spring, a blast that leveled three buildings, caused dozens of injuries, and killed two people. Speaking at a press conference Thursday morning, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance named general contractor Dilber Kukic, building owner Maria Hrynenko, her son and building facilities manager Michael Hrynenko, along with two plumbers, Athanasios Ionnidis and Andrew Trombettas, as directly responsible for the catastrophic blast. All five were taken into custody Thursday morning.
Those named by Vance face a range of charges including second degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, assault, and reckless endangerment—convictions could lead to a maximum of 15 years in prison. Trombettas, who allegedly provided Ionnidis with an illegal license, has been charged with offering a false instrument for filing. All five defendants will be arraigned this afternoon.
Before listing the charges, the Manhattan DA acknowledged Nicholas Figueroa, 23, and Moises Locon, 26, both of whom had been inside Sushi Park restaurant at 121 Second Avenue on the afternoon of the blast and were ultimately killed, their bodies pulled from the wreckage days later. Vance described the explosion and fire that took their lives as "foreseeable, preventable, and completely avoidable."
Vance described a pattern of poor maintenance, greed, and deceit that ultimately proved fatal. According to his investigation, Hrynenko hired Kukic in 2013 to renovate her properties at 121 and 119 Second Avenue. Kukic proceeded to hire Ionnidis to work on the former building, a five-story tenement apartment. That work was completed by June 2014; however, ConEd had not approved gas meters.
"Having just invested in renovations, the Hrynenkos wanted to rent the apartments as soon as possible," Vance said. "the only thing that was holding them up was a lack of gas." Working with Kukic, they allegedly installed four flexible rubber hoses running from the gas meter in the basement of 121 Second Avenue up to the apartments, which they had begun renting at an average of $6,000 per month. Tenants were not notified of this illegal gas source, according to prosecutors.
In August of 2014, ConEd discovered the unsafe flexible hose setup, and shut down all gas supply to 121 Second Avenue. Prosecutors say the Hrynenkos responded by secretly building another unsafe gas delivery system, tapping gas lines at 119 Second Avenue and rigging a series of pipes and valves to bring it into a hidden utility room in the basement of 121.
A new ConEd appointment was scheduled for March 26, 2015. On that day, the illegal gas line was shut off, allegedly to avoid alerting inspectors. At the same time, Kukic and Michael Hrynenko opened gas valves in the basement of 121 Second Avenue "in order to bring the gas up to the apartments, because if ConEd were to perform a building wide pressure test to the system, the only way to pass the test was to make sure the gas was open," Vance said. Inspectors from the energy company arrived at 2 p.m. that day and again rejected the installation of a meter.
At approximately 2:35, following ConEd's visit, Kukic and Hrynenko allegedly returned to 119 Second Avenue to turn their illegal gas line back on. "But tragically they never re-closed the valves that they had opened in order for the gas to go up to the apartments during the pressure test by ConEd," Vance said. Pipes that opened into 121 Second Avenue were left uncapped and open.
At approximately 3 p.m. that afternoon, a worker at Sushi Park smelled gas in 121 Second Avenue, and notified Maria Hrynenko. Minutes later, the explosion occurred, and within hours all of 119, 121, and 123 Second Avenue laid in ruins.
"Development, construction, and renovation is happening all across New York City," Vance said. "We know it's happening at breakneck speed. Financial incentives for property owners to take shortcuts have never been stronger."
"Our message is simply this: they have to resist temptation to take these shortcuts...When you tinker around with the gas system and electrical hookups, you have in effect weaponized that building."
"The individuals involved in the East Village gas explosion showed a blatant and callous disregard for human life," mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. "We are heartened that today these defendants will be brought to justice and forced to answer for their criminal actions."
Here's an important guide on what to do if you smell gas.
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Scott Heins
Scott Heins is a freelance photo and video journalist based in New York City, and a frequent contributor to Gothamist + WNYC. His work often centers around labor rights, housing, and policing. In 2018-2019 he traveled to four states while covering a wave of public school teachers strikes, with work featured in The New York Times, The Intercept, Getty Images, Splinter, and Bloomberg Photos. Scott is a dues-paying member of the National Writers Union's Freelance Solidarity Project.
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