Los Angeles County prosecutors have filed five felony charges against Parter Medical Products Inc., its president and its manager, alleging they exposed employees to hazardous levels of ethylene oxide and then concealed the danger through falsified documents and illegal waste practices.
District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman announced the charges against Parter Medical Products, which does business as Parter Sterilization Services, and company executives Hormoz Foroughi, 60, of Newport Beach, and Amine Elmaziati, 43, of Long Beach. Both men face counts of failure to disclose a serious concealed danger, forgery, filing a false document, disposal of hazardous waste at an unpermitted site, and illegal storage of hazardous waste without a permit.
Prosecutors allege the defendants failed to act even after learning that some workers had been exposed to unsafe levels of ethylene oxide, a colorless gas linked to cancer, reproductive harm and neurological damage. The chemical’s odor is not detectable until it reaches harmful concentrations.
“This case sends a clear message: If you expose your workers to dangerous chemicals and then falsify records or mislead regulators, we will come after you,” Hochman said in a statement. “Companies that cut corners and conceal hazards not only endanger lives, they violate the public’s trust.”
More than 20 members of the District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigation, working with the Los Angeles County Fire Department and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, served a search warrant on July 17 at Parter’s Carson facility.
Foroughi and Elmaziati are scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 5 in Compton Superior Court. Prosecutors are seeking $125,000 bail for each. If convicted as charged, they could face up to six years in state prison.
Los Angeles County prosecutors have filed five felony charges against Parter Medical Products Inc., its president and its manager, alleging they exposed employees to hazardous levels of ethylene oxide and then concealed the danger through falsified documents and illegal waste practices. District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman announced the charges against Parter Medical Products, which does […]
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