HOW A CONNERSVILLE LANDLORD BURIED LEAD POISONING RISKS UNDER 173 COUNTS OF SILENCE

THE PAPERWORK THEY NEVER GOT

Between 2019 and 2024, at least 30 families signed leases for apartments and houses owned by Parsley Properties LLC in Connersville, Indiana. Some of these buildings were constructed before the Civil War. Others went up in the postwar suburban boom. All of them were built before 1978, the year the federal government banned lead-based paint for residential use.

Under the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992, landlords leasing pre-1978 housing must provide three things before a tenant signs: a lead warning statement, a disclosure of known lead hazards or a statement of no knowledge, and an EPA-approved pamphlet titled Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home. The lease must also include a signed acknowledgment from the tenant that they received this information.

According to the EPA’s Consent Agreement and Final Order filed July 7, 2026, Parsley Properties provided none of these documents in 27 out of 30 leases reviewed during a January 2024 inspection. In the remaining three cases, the company provided incomplete documentation.

This was not an administrative oversight. It was a five-year pattern of non-compliance across multiple properties, multiple tenants, and multiple inspections.

THE NON-FINANCIAL LEDGER

Lead poisoning does not announce itself. There is no single moment of collapse. Instead, it accumulates. A child touches a windowsill. Dust transfers to hands, then to mouth. Over months, cognitive development slows. Behavioral problems emerge. School performance deteriorates. By the time blood tests confirm elevated lead levels, the damage is irreversible.

The families who rented from Parsley Properties were never told this. They were never given the pamphlet explaining how to identify lead hazards, how to minimize dust, or when to seek medical testing. They signed leases for apartments built in 1813, 1913, 1961, 1968, and 1972, and they moved in blind.

Consider Apartment 10 at 1533 North Eastern Avenue, a building constructed in 1913. The EPA consent order lists two separate leases for this unit: one from August 2019 to July 2020, and another signed in September 2024 for a single month. Both tenants received no warning statement, no hazard disclosure, and no pamphlet. If a child lived in that apartment during either lease period and was exposed to lead paint, the parents had no federal documentation to prove the landlord’s knowledge or negligence.

The loss here is not just health. It is the loss of informed consent. It is the loss of the legal right to make a decision about risk. Parsley Properties did not just withhold paperwork. They withheld the capacity for self-protection.

LEGAL RECEIPTS

The consent order is a masterclass in bureaucratic precision. It does not editorialize. It does not speculate. It simply lists, paragraph by paragraph, what the law required and what Parsley Properties failed to do.

“Respondent failed to include a lead warning statement, either within the contract or as an attachment to the contract for the lease of Respondent’s properties listed in Appendix A, Line Nos. 1-22, 24-26, and 28-29, in violation of 40 C.F.R. § 745.113(b)(1), 15 U.S.C. § 2689, and 42 U.S.C. § 4852d(b)(5).”
— EPA Consent Agreement, Paragraph 31

The document goes on:

“Respondent failed to include, either within the contract or as an attachment to the contract to lease all Respondent’s properties listed in Appendix A, a statement by the lessor disclosing either the presence of any known lead-based paint and/or lead-based paint hazards in the target housing or a lack of knowledge of such presence.”
— EPA Consent Agreement, Paragraph 34

And again:

“Information provided by the Respondent demonstrated that it failed to provide the lessee with the EPA-approved lead hazard information pamphlet entitled Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home (EPA Pamphlet) for the leases listed in Appendix A, Line Nos. 1-22, 24-26, and 28-29, in violation of 40 C.F.R. § 745.107(a)(1), 15 U.S.C. § 2689, and 42 U.S.C. § 4852d(b)(5).”
— EPA Consent Agreement, Paragraph 28

There is no ambiguity here. The law existed. The landlord knew the law existed. The landlord did not follow it.

SOCIETAL IMPACT MAPPING

Environmental Degradation

Lead-based paint is not just a health hazard. It is an environmental contaminant. When paint chips, it becomes dust. That dust migrates. It settles in soil outside the building. It contaminates playgrounds, gardens, and sidewalks. Children play in that soil. Pets track it indoors. The contamination radius extends far beyond the original structure.

Parsley Properties’ buildings are scattered across Connersville. 121 East 3rd Street. 429 Hill Street. 1065 East 5th Street. 1533 North Eastern Avenue. Each one is a potential point source for environmental lead exposure. The EPA consent order does not address soil testing, remediation, or community-wide exposure assessments. It addresses only the paperwork failures. The environmental damage remains unmeasured.

Public Health

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states there is no safe blood lead level in children. Even low-level exposure is associated with reduced IQ, attention deficits, and increased risk of behavioral disorders. The effects are permanent.

Connersville, Indiana, has a population of approximately 13,000. The city’s median household income is below the state average. Many of Parsley Properties’ tenants likely qualified for low-income housing assistance or were renters by economic necessity, not choice. These are the families least able to afford medical testing, least able to relocate, and least able to pursue civil litigation if their children are harmed.

The consent order does not require Parsley Properties to notify former tenants of the violations. It does not require the company to fund blood lead testing for children who lived in these units. It does not require any public health intervention whatsoever. The settlement is purely financial and purely symbolic.

Economic Inequality

The fine structure is designed to punish, not prevent. The EPA calculated an “appropriate civil penalty” of $8,000 based on “analysis of the factors specified in Section 16(a) of TSCA, 15 U.S.C. § 2615(a), the facts of this case, and Respondent’s ability to pay.”

Let that sink in. The fine was adjusted downward based on the landlord’s ability to pay. The maximum statutory penalty for the 173 documented violations would have been $8,606,456. The actual penalty was $8,000. That is a 99.9% discount.

Parsley Properties also entered into a parallel agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, bringing the total financial penalty to $8,000 across both agencies. The combined regulatory apparatus of the federal government fined this landlord less than the average American pays in annual rent.

Meanwhile, tenants who were never warned about lead hazards have no direct financial recourse through this settlement. The consent order explicitly states: “completion of the terms of this CAFO resolves only Respondent’s liability for federal civil penalties for the violations specifically alleged in this CAFO.” It does not create a private right of action. It does not compensate victims. It closes the case.

THE “COST OF A LIFE” METRIC

To put this in perspective:

• The average cost of a single emergency room visit for a child with acute lead poisoning: $3,000–$5,000.
• The lifetime cost of special education services for a child with lead-induced cognitive impairment: $150,000–$300,000.
• The estimated economic burden of childhood lead exposure in the United States per year: $50 billion.

Parsley Properties paid less to settle 173 federal violations than it would cost to treat two children for acute lead poisoning. The math is not theoretical. It is cruel.

WHAT NOW?

The consent order was signed by Mathew Parsley, Owner of Parsley Properties LLC, on June 25, 2026. It was ratified by Ann L. Coyle, Regional Judicial Officer, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, on July 7, 2026.

Parsley Properties is now certified as being in compliance with federal lead disclosure rules. The company waived all rights to appeal and agreed to pay the fine within 30 days. The case is closed.

But the children who lived in those apartments are not fine. The families who were never warned are not whole. And the regulatory system that allowed a five-year violation spree to result in an $8,000 fine is not reformed.

WATCHLIST

If you rented from Parsley Properties in Connersville, Indiana, between 2019 and 2024, you have a right to know:

• The EPA’s investigation is on the record. Docket number: TSCA-05-2026-0019.
• You can request your own lead hazard assessment through the Indiana State Department of Health.
• If you have children who lived in these units, you can request free blood lead testing through your county health department.
• You may have standing for a civil lawsuit under state negligence law. Consult a local housing attorney.

REGULATORY CONTACTS

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5: Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division. Contact: r5lecab@epa.gov
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes.
• Indiana State Department of Health: Lead and Healthy Homes Program.
• Fayette County Health Department: Local environmental health office.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Organize. Connersville needs a tenant union. If you are a current or former renter in Fayette County, connect with Indiana Tenants Union or Heartland Workers Center to start building collective power.

Document everything. If you suspect lead contamination in your rental unit, request a lead inspection in writing. Keep copies. Indiana law requires landlords to disclose known hazards. Failure to do so is grounds for lease termination and damages.

Support local journalism. The Connersville News-Examiner is your local paper. If they are not covering this story, ask them why. Accountability starts with visibility.

Mutual aid works. If you or your children need blood lead testing and cannot afford it, reach out to local churches, community health centers, and food banks. Many offer free or sliding-scale health screenings. The system failed you. Your neighbors will not.