There are new developments in a story you saw first on That is Messed Up.
Used needles, medicine and other medical waste that was in a Springfield mansion on April 1 is now gone.
Where did it go? Who took it? Is it in a landfill or a dumpster behind your child’s school? All good questions but sadly, nobody in authority knows.
At last check, thousands of patient medical records are still in boxes and scattered throughout the 9,000-foot abandoned mansion on Memorial Boulevard.
The boxes are marked Radnor Medical and Millbrook Medical Center. And many boxes have the same name on them over and over and over again: That name: “Lance Gardiner”.
The assistant police chief in Springfield calls the 52-year-old Gardiner the key to the entire investigation.
Gardiner’s name is not only on boxes in the house, his name is on tax records for the mansion. Gardiner’s name is also linked to several medical centers that have shut down.
More on Gardiner in a moment but first, Messed Up speaks with a Springfield woman who claims she saw the medical records scattered throughout the mansion almost a year ago.
Following the story’s airing earlier this week, Donna Butler wrote me this email:
“I worked for HCA at Centennial. We went in there, three of us, looked to buy for a side business, we walked in with the realtor I was appalled, and the whole time, I went on and on with the records and social security numbers written everywhere. This is a huge HIPPA violation and the HAZMAT stuff.”
By phone, Butler lists names and tells me what agencies she called.
She said she went to see the house on Sunday, July 19 and kept asking the real estate agent about the medical records and the real estate agent treated it nonchalantly.
“We are in charge and it is boarded up,” Butler said recalling her conversation with the agent.
When I ask Butler if she asked what the agent was doing about this, Butler says the agent replied, “Nothing we can do, the owner will have to do something.”
Butler tells me that the very next day, on Monday, the first thing she did was it report the home and its medical waste and records to several news station hotlines. As far as I can tell, no TV station picks up the story.
Butler also says she got on the phone and begun making call after call.
Butler says she spoke to someone in District Attorney John Carney’s office in Springfield who said there was little that could be done and the incident needed to be reported through another avenue.
Butler says with so many Social Security numbers, medical records and HIPAA violations lying around, she called the Tennessee Department of Finance and asked for Commissioner Dave Goetz. She said she spoke to someone in his office and they said they thought maybe the Office of Civil Rights was the way to go.
Butler said she called the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services because of the Social Security number issue. In the end, Butler said her concern was again dropped through the cracks as the agency told her to call the Tennessee Department of Health or the Medical Board.
Butler said she then proceeded to call the Tennessee Board of Medical Directors and left a message for Dr. Larry Arnold.
While he called back and said he did some research, in the end, Butler said, “All he says he can do is send a letter to the owner telling him to get the records up properly.”
When asked how she feels having reported this to so many agencies last summer she says, “I am really aggravated. I feel nobody cared yet everyone wants to report HIPPA violations and it could be my parent’s info being there, your cousins, anybody. We don’t know. It could be every citizen in Springfield.”
Messed Up called the real estate company showing the house. Those who answer the phone are polite and say “no comment.”
A realtor identified as Brett Leehans tells Messed Up staffers, “Good luck fixing this problem.”
Springfield Fire Chief Maynor Schott has been very responsive once News 2 alerted him to the severity of the problem.
On April 2, Schott told Messed Up, “Quite honestly, we are in the process of trying to contact the owner of the property to clean up the property. If we take charge of this, then the city of Springfield is liable for disposal. We’re not if we can find someone to take responsibility. We are trying to find the owner. We are trying to get a resolution to the problem.”
Who’s responsible?
All roads seem to lead to Lance Gardiner.
The Brentwood businessman has returned zero calls from Messed Up and News 2 reporters over the last week.
This will be confirmed on the evening of April 6, when Springfield police stop three men in a van. The men claim they are moving the medical records to other locations on the orders of their boss, Lance Gardiner.
“The men told the police they were loading the waste to take to a storage facility in Ashland City and another in Brentwood,” the assistant police chief said.
Police said the men were told to put the records back. No charges were filed.
Now, authorities tell News 2 it is probable the medical waste was already out of the house by the evening of April 6.
Who moved it? Where is it? Nobody knows.
Messed Up gets information that Gardiner has ties to doctor offices in Ashland City.
We go to the Med West facility in the Walmart shopping center on Highway 12. The doctor’s office is locked and patient files are piled neatly on the floor against the wall and under the desk.
Before moving here, Messed Up learns that Med West operated a physician’s office across the street from the Cheatham County Courthouse.
We go into the now-empty doctor’s office. The owner of the building, Dora Salinas, shows us around.
Salinas says the doctor was sometimes late on rent and when Gardiner moved, it was in such a hurry, they were throwing supplies into a car, even leaving medical equipment behind in drawers.
Messed Up has learned that as recently as 2009, the IRS was investigating Gardiner. The U.S. Attorney’s Offices tells Messed Up they were asked to enforce an IRS summons for documentation. Ultimately, we are told that Gardiner complies.
Investigators in District Attorney Ed Yarborough’s office say they are considering taking action against the businessman.
Brian Todd is the spokesperson for the Metro Public Health Department.
When asked how Metro would handle a similar case, he replies, “We would try and get out that day, we would one, make sure it is secure and medical waste not accessible to anyone, we know that hazardous waste is just that. Medical waste is hazardous waste. It could contain needles contaminated with hepatitis and HIV. That would be a big concern for us. If it is identified as a hazard you don’t have to id the owner you can move forward and if it is a public health risk, eliminating the risk. First thing to do, Make sure people can’t get in there for the med waste No. 1 and No. 2,, there are medical records in there that should be kept confidential. So you would help that process to keep it confidential.”
Thousands of patient records are missing.
If you believe your records are among the mess we have shown; perhaps you might want to talk to Lance or Ruby Gardiner.
The number I have is 615-376-4155.
I doubt they will answer. Good luck.
A Messed Up investigation has initiated a probe by the state Department of Environment and Conservation and Robertson County Emergency Management officials.
At the heart of the investigation is who is responsible for illegally dumping medical waste and medical records in an abandoned mansion in Springfield, Tennessee.
A tip to Messed Up leads Photo Journalist Al Devine and me to the 9,000-square foot mansion located on Memorial Boulevard, behind a busy Kroger shopping center.
The front of the mansion is boarded up, and there is a padlock on the door.
Behind the mansion, however, the windows and doors are wide open.
The first floor is covered with thousands of pieces of paper. Upon closer examination, we see that these are patient medical records. There are so many, it is difficult to focus on any one item.
I notate records from as early as 1984.
There are boxes piled on boxes piled on boxes. Some are empty, but most contain medical records like those we find on the floor.
The walls are painted with graffiti.
Though the front door is locked, someone has written this message on the inside.
It reads, “We’re always gonna find a way in this B*&$!.”
There are needles scattered around the main room.
In a rear hallway, we find bags of medical waste. There are thousands of needles. Many appear to be used. There are vials of medicine and containers for body fluids.
As of this writing, who owns the house and who dumped the material is being investigated.
EMA officials say they are meeting with state and city authorities to discuss how best to secure the house and remove the medical waste.
TDEC officials tell Messed Up, once the material is secured, the agency will look into who dumped the material.
I have spoken to Maynor Schott, emergency management coordinator for Robertson County.
“Quite honestly, we are in the process of trying to contact the owner of the property to clean up the property,” he said. “We want it boarded up. If we take charge of this, then the city of Springfield is liable for disposal.”
TDEC tells Messed Up penalties are certainly possible for this kind of dumping.
We’ll keep you posted.
More trouble for a Nashville Realty Company that has recently been in the news:
In the wake of a Messed Up investigation, Metro Public Works, Codes, and the Metro Health Department are all taking action against Barrett Realty Company.
The latest complaints center around city owned trash cans at 3 Barrett Properties. These trash cans are full of construction grade material, some of which has spilled into a nearby culvert.
Metro officials say it is not the city’s job to pick up these trash containers at the expense of tax payers.
Mike Brandle has lived on Barrett Drive for 10 years. The house next to Brandle’s is a Barrett run property. Brandle told us this property is currently empty and being renovated.
On the day Messed Up arrived in this South Nashville neighborhood, it was trash day, and garbage cans lined the street. The 3 cans in front of the Barrett owned property at 412 Barrett Drive were over flowing with what appears to be roofing material.
Brandle said these garbage cans are out here all the time, and that these cans have been over flowing with construction material like this for weeks.
We drove around the neighborhood to look at other Barrett properties. We found trash cans filled with similar construction grade material, and, at one location, the cans were turned over and in the culvert.
We returned to the neighborhood hours later. The city garbage trucks had rolled through, and most of the cans had been removed from the street. The cans next to Mr. Brandle’s home were still at the curb, however the roofing material was gone, replaced with contractor grade trash bags.
We spoke with Billy Lynch who heads up the Metro Public Works Department. He said Barrett’s use of the city owned trash cans is a clear violation.
According to Lynch, city haulers should not pick up debris like this because it is against the following code:
10.20.290 Building debris–Responsibility for removal.
A. Building debris such as scrap lumber, plaster, roofing, concrete, brickbats, and sanding dust resulting from the construction, repair, remodeling or demolition of any building or appurtenances on private property will not be removed by the department of public works, and the owner must cause such materials and waste to be privately moved.
Lynch said the construction material exceeds the weight limitations for a 96 gallon container. He also said the haulers removed the Barrett cans because citizens complained about the way they looked. Lynch said the company is abusing the city service, and that his agency picked up all the city owned garbage receptacles at the 3 Barrett addresses we visited. Lynch also said Public Works mailed a letter of violation for each address to the realty company.
Metro Codes also confirmed it has an active investigation on the three Barrett properties. Metro Health has issued the company a notice to clean up the spilled trash at 408 Wimpole.
Once again, Messed Up went to Barrett Realty on Murfreesboro Road for a reaction. A man in the office told Messed Up to leave or the police would be called. We exited, unable to obtain a statement from the company regarding the recent developments.
As you may recall, Barrett Realty is the same company Messed Up investigated in a story earlier this month. At that time, new renters said Barrett Realty moved the previous tenant’s belongings to the front lawn for the city to pick up. After Messed Up got involved the city cited the agency, and Barrett Realty removed the furniture.
After Sylvan Heights neighbors discover 50 gallon drums of a paint like substance ponding on the ground in their neighborhood, they contacted That’s Messed Up.
I visit the site behind a factory off of Nevada and 40th avenue in West Nashville. I quickly find rusty 50 gallon drums tipped over and ponds of yellow and red goo.
I detect a strong smell of paint.
Michael Bell lives next to the factory. Bell says when the wind blows - the smell from this colorful dump site permeates the air.
Bell says neighbors called TDEC months earlier, but investigators said the material was being properly stored. Obviously, the problem has grown much worse.
The spill is located behind the steel manufacturing building, next rail road tracks and bordered by Montgomery Bell Academy’s practice field.
I get the owner of the facility where the paint is spilled to accompany me around back.
Bill Gambill seems shocked by what I show him.
Shaking his head in disbelief, the steel fabricator pledges to clean this up.
Gambill is a man of his word. Less than 24 hours later, I return to the site and there is a bob cat scraping soil, and 3 heavily protected factory employees cleaning up the spill.
“We are grabbing the top soil,” Gambill says. “We’re putting it into sealed barrels and then get rid of them according to EPA plan.”
I ask him if the ponding puddles of goo are in deed paint. He tells me they are.
“Some of it is non leaded. Some is water based paint. Some of it is cut with light industrial thinner.
He says the paint is not considered dangerous, but he says the clean up is expensive. He has to pay for the bob cat, and pay his workers to scrape paint rather than work in the factory. He has to pay for the sealed drums and ultimately the disposal.
“I didn’t know this was here. So as soon as I was made aware, I want it gone. I don’t need this kind of problem with economy like it is. The cost of recycling and the cost of getting these burned. The paint must be sent off to Ashland Chemcial. It’s $200 dollars a barrel. So I’m looking at costs there. And the economy is low. So this is time and money out of my pocket. I would like to know who the heck did this. It was none of my doing.”
Eric McCann is engineer with the Metro Public Health Department’s air pollution division. He tells me:
“We had a paint spill. We are talking to Mr. Gambill. It was some waste paint. As far as atmospheric pollution? we found a small amount of volatiles in the paint being released.”
I ask TDEC about possible ground water contamination?
Meg Lockhart writes:
There are no anticipated groundwater issues due to the spill — I am told this is due to the product itself and that it is not water soluble and would be more of an air quality concern as it is a fast drying enamel paint. Again, cleanup efforts continue.
While we do not know exactly how the product from these drums was released, it appears to be an act of vandalism. However, because these drums are on Mr. Gambill’s property, it is his responsibility to clean up the site — which they are doing. According to TDEC staff at the site today, the property owner is handling the cleanup effort appropriately. In addition, staff from both Metro’s Health Department and Air Pollution Control divisions have visited the site today as well. The department will continue to investigate the matter but as mentioned, cleanup efforts are ongoing.”
Mr. Gambill tells Messed Up he has been battling gangs and vandalism. He has not called the police, but he suspects that the gangs might be responsible for the spill.
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