Pesticide Expert Charged Over Advice in Farm Worker’s Death

Misdemeanor charges were filed Wednesday against a pest-control specialist after an investigation of the death of a Mexican farm worker who had been working in a Jamul tomato field newly sprayed with a highly toxic pesticide.

George Azuma, who allegedly advised the farmer it was safe to send workers back into the field, was charged by the San Diego County district attorney’s office with six counts of violating state regulations governing the amount of time a field must remain empty after spraying. Azuma is licensed by the state to advise farmers on proper pesticide use.

The district attorney’s office decided not to press charges against farmer Fred Hatashita, in whose field Juan Chabolla Casillas was working when he collapsed Aug. 5. Prosecutors concluded that Hatashita sent his workers into the field on Azuma’s advice. The exact cause of Chabolla Casillas’ death was never determined, according to officials.

“Mr. Hatashita had not dealt with this type of pesticide before,” said Josephine Kiernan, a deputy district attorney. “I suppose although technically he could be held responsible, he had never had any previous violations, and he did what a reasonable person would have done in this case: Not knowing, he asked a person who was supposed to be an expert.”

Chabolla Casillas, 32, who lived in Tijuana with his wife and four children, collapsed in mid-afternoon after starting work at 8 a.m. Several hours earlier, workers had sprayed the two fields with Monitor 4, a pesticide that state officials categorize as one of the most toxic used.

Under the state food and agriculture code, farmers who apply “category one” pesticides such as Monitor 4 are required to wait 24 hours before allowing workers back in the field. Azuma is charged with advising Hatashita to violate those provisions on three occasions--on July 7 and 22 and Aug. 5.

Kiernan said Azuma had given Hatashita a written statement that it would be OK to send workers back into the fields within hours of spraying. Acting on that advice, she said, Hatashita sent the workers back early on all three occasions.

Azuma, of Chula Vista, could not be reached late Wednesday for comment. Hatashita also was unavailable.

Kiernan said a Mexican coroner concluded that Chabolla Casillas died of cerebral hemorrhaging and ingestion of vomit, while a later autopsy by the San Diego County coroner’s office only found evidence of a heart condition.

While coroners detected the pesticide on Chabolla Casillas’ hands, they found none in his body tissue, Kiernan said. However, their efforts may have been hampered by the fact that the body had been embalmed before the second autopsy, she said.

“At the current state of affairs, there is simply insufficient evidence for us to connect the pesticide with the death of the farm worker,” Kiernan said. “ . . . I think the decision (to charge Azuma) indicates that this is the most accurate charge that can be brought against Mr. Azuma which is supported by the evidence.”

Azuma, who is scheduled to be arraigned May 7 in Municipal Court in El Cajon, is charged with six misdemeanor counts. Each pair, applying to each of the three days on which there were alleged violations, carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, Kiernan said.