Meriden Man Accused Of Illegal Encroachment On State Park: AG Tong

MERIDEN, CT — Connecticut Attorney General William Tong announced Thursday that he has filed an enforcement action against Salvatore Carabetta and his Meriden Homestead II and Meriden Homestead III LLCs on accusations of the “egregious illegal encroachment on Lamentation Mountain State Park property.”

“The state has zero tolerance for unlawful encroachment on and destruction of public lands,” Tong said in a statement. “State parks such as Lamentation Mountain are held in the public trust for the benefit of all. Private encroachments on public property will not be tolerated.”

Lamentation Mountain is a state park on the border of Meriden and Berlin.

Salvatore Carabetta and his series of LLCs control four parcels of land directly to the south of the state park.

“Because one of the parcels lacks street access, the state in 1984 granted a prior property owner a limited easement allowing development of a gravel drive into that parcel through a section of Lamentation Mountain State Park,” officials wrote in a news release. “The action alleges that since owning the property, Carabetta has illegally clearcut acres of state forest, and has unlawfully built numerous fixtures on state property, including an asphalt driveway, a basketball court, two sheds, an animal shed, a drainage system with runoff into the state park, and a guest house.”

Carabetta is also accused of taking additional measures to prevent public access to the state park lands, including “padlocking the access road with large ‘Private No Trespassing’ signs affixed to state park trees,” according to the news release.

The enforcement action, filed in Hartford Superior Court, seeks a court order to “restore Lamentation Mountain State Park to its original condition, as well as declaratory and injunctive relief and damages up to five times the cost of restoration,” according to the news release.

“The action seeks to hold both the Meriden Homestead LLCs, as well as Salvatore Carabetta personally liable under the Responsible Corporate Officer Doctrine,” the news release states. “Efforts by the state to address these numerous violations out of court have failed. Last year, Carabetta unsuccessfully sought state legislation to transfer state parklands to his ownership to evade accountability.”