Important Disclaimers: Mugshots were enhanced and digitally animated. Some photos featured in this post are sourced from www.barnumfestival.com and remain the copyright of their respective owners. They are used here under the fair use doctrine for informational and satirical purposes. The Barnum Festival itself was not implicated in any way in this scandal. The controversy involved Jason Julian, who served as the festival’s 2016 Ringmaster, but the festival as an organization had no connection to the matter.
This is the story of how a real-life ringmaster orchestrated a scheme that left Fairfield, Connecticut, with toxic waste under its parks and playgrounds—and a multi-million dollar bill to clean it up.
In 2013, the town hired Jason Julian’s company to safely haul away a pile of construction debris at the Public Works Yard. Instead, over a three year period, the pile quadrupled in size, growing from forty to one-hundred-and-eighty-thousand cubic yards.
Instead of cleaning up, Julian did the opposite. He turned the site into an illegal dumping ground, purportedly charging outside companies to unload hazardous materials, including lead, asbestos, and PCBs. To make matters worse, this contaminated soil was then used in public projects, ending up beneath parks, school fields, and even the Penfield Pavilion.
But Julian didn’t act alone. And here’s where it gets almost too ironic to believe—he was a ringmaster. Literally. Julian had once served as a ringmaster for the Barnum Festival. But in Fairfield, his act wasn’t entertainment. Fairfield Public Works Superintendent Scott Bartlett, and Public Works Director Joe Michelangelo, were in on the scheme. One witness even claimed Julian handed Bartlett a cash-filled envelope at a holiday party.
The scam unraveled in 2016 when a random soil test detected dangerously high levels of lead and PCBs at the fill pile, sparking a full-scale investigation. By 2019, authorities had identified over 40 contaminated sites across Fairfield.
Julian pleaded guilty to operating an illegal dumping facility and received 18 months in prison and a $2.5 million restitution order. Bartlett was sentenced to five years behind bars. Michelangelo, who cooperated with prosecutors, is awaiting sentencing.
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