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Scientist Fined $100 in Lab Blast That Killed 2
By Jean Guccione
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 11, 2003
A retired scientist has been fined $100 and sentenced to one year of probation for his role in a deadly 1994 explosion at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory near Chatsworth.
The sentencing of Edgar R. Wilson, 67, of Chatsworth ends nearly a decade of criminal investigation into the deaths of two other scientists, Otto K. Heiney, 52, of Chatsworth and Larry A. Pugh, 51, of Thousand Oaks.
Wilson and Joseph E. Flanagan, the former director of Rocketdyne's Chemical Technology Group, pleaded guilty to misdemeanors after a jury deadlocked last year on more serious charges.
Wilson was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Robert J. Timlin, who presided over the four-month trial.
Flanagan, 63, of Stanwood, Wash., and another co-defendant, James F. Weber, 54, of Moorpark were each fined $5,000 and sentenced to one year of probation. Weber pleaded guilty before trial.
A federal grand jury in April 1999 indicted Flanagan and his two subordinates on felony violations of the Federal Resources Conservation and Recovery Act. No one was directly charged with the deaths.
Prosecutors said the scientists were illegally burning waste at the test site on July 26, 1994, when the chemicals exploded. Heiney and Pugh were killed instantly and a third worker was burned.
Although Flanagan was not at the lab when the blast occurred, prosecutors said he supervised the workers and knew about the illegal burnings.
The defendants argued in court that they believed Heiney and Pugh were conducting legitimate scientific research when they were killed. Wilson, Flanagan and Weber pleaded guilty to a lesser crime of illegally storing explosive materials.
By Jean Guccione
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
January 28 2003
A former Rocketdyne
executive was fined $5,000 and sentenced to one year of probation
Monday for environmental
violations that prosecutors blame
for a deadly
1994 blast at the Santa Susana
Field Laboratory near Chatsworth.
Joseph E. Flanagan, 62, of Stanwood, Wash., pleaded guilty
in June to two misdemeanor charges of illegally storing explosive
materials. He faced a maximum of one year in prison and a
$100,000 fine on each count.
U.S. District Judge Robert J. Timlin rejected a plea by the
prosecutor to send the former director of Rocketdyne's
Chemical Technology Group to prison
for 10 months. Assistant U.S. Atty. William Carter argued again
Monday that Flanagan deserved to go to prison because the environmental
violations led to the deaths of two
scientists.
Flanagan was sentenced on two counts that his attorney, John D.
Vandevelde, described as "very
technical, regulatory misdemeanors."
"This has been an 8 1/2-year nightmare for Dr.
Flanagan," Vandevelde said. "He feels terrible about
this accident that took the lives of two of his colleagues, and
he has always maintained that he was not responsible for anything
that led to their deaths. He is glad this is finally over."
A federal grand jury indicted Flanagan and two of his
subordinates on the more
serious violations of the Federal
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in April 1999. No one was
charged directly with the deaths.
Carter had argued that scientists were illegally burning waste
at the test site July 26, 1994, when the chemicals
ignited and caused an explosion.
Otto K. Heiney, 53, of Canoga Park, and Larry A. Pugh, 51, of
Thousand Oaks, were killed instantly, and a third worker was
burned.
Although Flanagan was not at the lab
when the blast occurred, Carter has alleged that he supervised
the workers and knew about the illegal
burnings.
Defense attorneys argued that the materials were not waste but
excess, and were being used in legitimate
scientific research.
Rocketdyne paid a $202,500 fine to the California Division of
Occupational Safety and Health for violating
state worker-safety rules and for failing
to notify the agency where and when
the explosives
were being used.
Cal/OSHA's 1996 report called the alleged tests "a
disguise for destroying waste explosive materials"
and concluded the scientists were illegally
disposing of 160 pounds of waste, a
little at a time.
Flanagan was originally charged with two felony counts of illegally
burning chemical waste at the field lab
on July 21 and 26, 1994, and one felony count of illegal
waste storage. Those charges each
carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Flanagan, the group's hazardous
waste manager, entered a guilty
plea to the misdemeanor charges after a Riverside jury deadlocked
10 to 2 in March in favor of guilt on the felony counts. The
trial was held in Riverside because the federal case was randomly
assigned to a judge there.
James F. Weber, 53, of Moorpark pleaded guilty in August 2001 to
one count of illegally
storing explosive materials and
also was sentenced to one year of probation. Technician Edgar R.
Wilson, 66, of Chatsworth is awaiting retrial
later this year.
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Copyright 2003 Los Angeles Times
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