LAKEWOOD - The owner of A2Z Radon Mitigation in Lakewood threatens, intimidates and sometimes sues customers who dare to complain about the quality of his work, according to court records, audio tapes, state records and interviews with customers by 9Wants to Know.
"Piece of s---, Carolyn. Better be scared. I'm coming to kill you," Sean Patrick Stenson said in a voicemail on Feb. 23, 2009 to a consumer named Carolyn who asked 9NEWS not to use her last name out of safety concerns.
Carolyn was visibly upset by the voicemail and told an Arapahoe County Sheriff's Deputy, "I'm scared."
Stenson left the voicemail after Carolyn complained to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and to the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) which operates a certification program. Carolyn claimed Stenson had fabricated her radon test results.
Stenson has sued Carolyn, NEHA and has put the state on notice he may sue the CDPHE too.
Carolyn and her husband David wanted to move their son's bedroom downstairs, so they hired A2Z Radon Mitigation for $800 in 2004 to lower the levels of radon in their home.
The EPA recommends you take corrective measures to reduce the carcinogen gas if the level is 4 pCi/L or higher, and her level was 10.3 pCi/L.
After two attempts to lower the dangerous gas, A2Z Radon Mitigation sent her a written report from the testing company AirCheck that showed her home was now at the safe level of 1.8 pCi/L.
According to a complaint with the state, Carolyn then moved her son into the basement, where he lived for a few years.
In 2008, Carolyn learned that radon tests should be run periodically to make sure the levels remain low, so she tested again. Tests showed her levels at 10.3 pCi/L. That's when she got suspicious and called the testing company AirCheck to review her first result.
AirCheck told her its test results sent to A2Z was not 1.8 pCi/L, but rather 7.8 pCi/L, which exceeded the acceptable limits, according to lab reports and court records.
"You do not do something like that. We're talking a class 1 carcinogen for crying out loud. You don't deliberately expose a family to that," Terry Nelson, president of the Colorado Accredited Radon Mitigators Association (CARMA) and owner of ASEC Radon Mitigation, said.
After she learned about the falsified results from A2Z, Carolyn hired Nelson to repair the system A2Z had installed in her home. His assessment of Stenson's work corresponds with complaints customers have filed with the state.
"I said, 'Everything about this is wrong and it totally needs to be replaced,'" Nelson said. "I don't know what to say about Sean's character. But I've seen his work and it's a disgrace. It's an embarrassment to the mitigation field."
Nelson says that level of radon in Carolyn's basement was tantamount to her young son smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.
"Any parent, that would be a nightmare to find out and know your son's lungs had been damaged for years when you thought you spent the money to protect him," Nelson said. "He has basically terrorized this family."
In court records and interviews with 9Wants to Know, Stenson denies he fabricated Carolyn's test results.
"She was actually manipulating the tests herself," Stenson said. "We did fix her problems. It was fixed many times and Carolyn just kept complaining and complaining."
Carolyn denies she altered any test results.
Stenson also denies leaving a threatening voicemail. Investigative Reporter Deborah Sherman mentioned that it sounds a lot like him.
"It doesn't sound like anything to me, so, I appreciate your opinion, but no, it doesn't sound anything like me," Stenson replied.
NEHA, which certified Stenson in 2008, de-certified him from its National Radon Proficiency Program in March 2009 after the director says she received several "unprofessional and threatening" e-mails from him when he asked her to remove all customer complaints from his file.
"You remove the fabricated complaints from my file... I promise you that it is the easiest way. The other way gets pretty ugly," Stenson wrote to Director Angel Price of NEHA in 2009. "If not, I'll go into your computer and tear it apart. Your phone calls are being monitored... I'm watching your every move."
Records show Stenson also wrote threatening letters to the CDPHE after it removed his business from the consumer referral list. Nine consumers have complained to the CDPHE about A2Z Radon Mitigation, which conducts 400 to 600 mitigations a year. Once the state receives three complaints, it takes the company off its referral list.
"You are an unethical, sick criminal. You have done every slimy unethical thing in your power to destroy my sole company," Stenson wrote to Linda Bartish of CDPHE on Sept. 1, 2009. "I'm giving you the opportunity to have this go away, simply put me on the CDPHE list and put all those fraudulent complaints against my company in the trash."
The CDPHE refused to comment about the letters citing legal reasons.
Last month, Stenson was charged and convicted of harassment and making threats to Caroyln.
"We believe that he wants to intimidate and scare people once they complain against him," Casimer Spencer, spokesperson for the 18th Judicial District, said. "There's never an excuse for a customer to feel intimidated."
During the trial in Arapahoe County Court, customer Jeffrey Berschling claimed Stenson walked up to him in the court hallway where he was waiting to take the stand and mumbled, "Piece of s---."
Stenson denies it.
Berschling had filed a complaint with the state after he hired A2Z Radon Mitigation and it couldn't reduce his radon levels and kept charging him more.
In e-mails to his realtor in November 2007, Berschling claims Stenson left him a "somewhat threatening message" after the third radon test came out high.
"He kept saying I was trying to 'get something for nothing' and that he 'was done giving me free services' and that he 'lost money on the deal,'" Berschling wrote.
Even the jury seemed afraid after finding him guilty on one count of harassment in a unanimous decision. It had only one question during the trial for the judge: "Can he find out who we are and where we live?"
Stenson's attorney says the question is not an unusual one.
"Lots of juries are worried about their personal safety and ask that question," Anne Sulton, Stenson's attorney, said.
Prosecutors say Stenson's behavior is concerning from a safety point of view.
"A consumer has a right to lodge a complaint with an agency and not fear retaliation, especially a death threat," Arapahoe County Deputy District Attorney Bryan Garrett said. "The evidence against him speaks for itself."
Stenson is appealing the verdict.
"Customers have a right to complain and they should complain because we would love to go fix it," Stenson said. "We always fix our complaints."
In 2001, according to a Denver Post report, A2Z Radon Mitigation scared residents in Washington Park by blanketing the area with flyers that claimed there were "substantially high levels of radon gas" in the area. The company then falsely claimed that it would test and record their results with the EPA, according to EPA officials and The Denver Post.
Stenson has run several businesses over the years, under the names Sean Brasky, Sean Patrick and Sean Stenson, 9Wants to Know has learned. He's been convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, selling marijuana and drunk driving, according to criminal records.
"He's never had any arrests or convictions for assaults or actual violence," Sulton said.
Stenson, a former New Yorker, has five rental properties in Lakewood, used to own a "Ponds and Waterfalls by Sean Patrick" business, and he's advertised at least twice in local papers in 2010 for "Attractive and sexy women for exotic dance and massage." The job pays up to $2,000 a week and lists the same cell phone number Stenson uses for his radon business.
Stenson says it was not an escort service and says he is no longer hiring women, according to Sulton.
Even without a CDPHE referral and a NEHA certification, Stenson remains in business because there is no oversight agency for radon mitigators, according to Nelson. The EPA gave the job up in 1999 to NEHA, which can only revoke certifications.
"Mitigators know that nothing is going to happen to them," Nelson said.
Nelson says mitigators posted on CARMA's website, www.CARMA.US, have been evaluated, are licensed and don't have any complaints against them. It is a free educational website for consumers, Nelson says.
Despite what happened to Carolyn, Nelson believes consumers should always complain if they've had a problem with a business.
"I'm sure that he's gotten other people to back down and he got them scared and they backed off, but he ran into a fighter. She wasn't going to let this happen," Nelson said.
If you have any comments about this story or other news tips, please e-mail Investigative Reporter Deborah Sherman at Deborah.Sherman@9NEWS.com.
(KUSA-TV © 2011 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)