Controversial Business Owner ID'd In Cape Carbon Monoxide Death

SAGAMORE (CBS) - A controversial business owner has been identified as the man who died of carbon monoxide poisoning on the Cape Wednesday night.

Police were called to RDA Inc. on Bluff Road in Sagamore just before 8:30 p.m. and found a man unconscious in an office and a CO alarm activated.

The man, identified Thursday as 60-year-old Don Shulman, was rushed to the hospital where he died.

According to the Cape & Islands District Attorney's Office, Shulman had apparently been working on a gas powered pressure washer in the office when he was overcome by the fumes.

The power washer was still running and there was a heavy amount of smoke in the office when police arrived.  One officer was treated at the hospital and released.

The DA's office said a preliminary investigation suggests Shulman's death was accidental, but an autopsy will be done by the Chief Medical Examiner's Office.

"Don is a workaholic. It's not unusual for him to work here late," RDA employee Bill D'Antonio told WBZ-TV Thursday.

Shulman was the target of an I-Team investigation in February 2013, when seven families claimed he stole more than $1 million from him.

The homeowners accused Shulman of coercing them to pay large amounts of money up front, but left them all with modular homes that were not finished.

In a letter to the I-Team, Shulman admitted his company had suffered "financial stresses" from the recession and that he was working on a reimbursement plan "in justified cases."

Shulman filed for bankruptcy protection a month later.