Trumbull man sued, fined for allegedly failing to clean up after father's fire

A Trumbull man lashed out at his town and his neighbors after he was fined tens of thousands of dollars for blight.

Carlo Carboni says his entire neighborhood on Chatham Drive has turned against him after he failed to clean up his elderly father's property following a fire.

The June 2018 fire started when Carboni says his 93-year-old father burned chicken fingers in the kitchen. Now, his father lives in a trailer in the backyard because the house is not fit to live in.

Carboni says his next-door neighbor filed a lawsuit suing him and the Town of Trumbull for negligence. The town then fined Carboni for $50,000 for blight.

"That all my neighbors went behind my back with the first selectman and the police chief, and they didn't have minutes on this, and they said that Carlo might be an arsonist. I think that's rude," says Carboni.

Carboni says he had some work done on the house, but contractors never finished the job. He says his house will be foreclosed on in February.

The neighbor who filed the lawsuits would not speak on camera but was clearly upset.

John Ponzini, the attorney for the neighbor who filed the suit, said by phone, "This has gotten out of hand and my clients have been the victims and have suffered in this case."

Trumbull's blight ordinance references multiple missing, broken or boarded windows and fire, smoke or water damage, which are still visible.

News 12 reached out to the first selectman but has not heard back.