SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - Two supervisors have pleaded no contest to felony charges in the deaths of two workers killed by a water heater explosion at a Southern California plastics manufacturing plant.
The Orange County Register (https://bit.ly/1b4GD1g ) reports that plant manager Carl E. Richardson and maintenance supervisor Roy Faulkinbury entered the pleas Friday, agreeing to pay $450,000 to the victims’ families and perform 250 hours of community service.
The charges stemmed from a 2009 explosion at Solus Industrial Innovations in Rancho Santa Margarita that killed 51-year-old Jose Jimenez of Garden Grove and 34-year-old Isidro Echeverria of Oceanside. Two other workers were injured.
The supervisors were charged with two violations of California’s labor code. Prosecutors say they decided to buy a residential water heater instead of an industrial one when the plant opened in 2007.
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Information from: The Orange County Register, https://www.ocregister.com
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