SOS Ex-Official Can Skip Jail by Giving 3 Talks

A former official with Space Ordnance Systems pleaded no contest Thursday to charges involving hazardous waste and received an unusual sentence that spares him jail time in return for giving three lectures on the consequences of mishandling such wastes.

James Smith, former director of administration for the Santa Clarita Valley aerospace and defense firm known as SOS, was sentenced to six months’ probation, with the probation to be suspended once the lectures are delivered.

SOS, a division of TransTechnology Corp. of Sherman Oaks, Tuesday pleaded no contest to 10 misdemeanor violations of state hazardous-waste laws and agreed to pay $300,000 in fines and legal costs. Two company officials face brief jail terms after pleading no contest last week.

He ‘Came Forward’

Deputy Dist. Atty. John Paul Bernardi said Thursday that prosecutors agreed to a more lenient sentence for Smith because he recently “came forward and provided us with information about the waste-handling practices of the corporation.”

Bernardi said the company decided to enter its plea after learning that Smith “had provided us with information that we felt improved our position in the case.”

He said prosecutors also decided, after talking to Smith, “that he was not as culpable for the offenses as we had previously thought.”

SOS and the three executives were charged in August, 1984, with 87 misdemeanor violations of state and county hazardous-waste laws. The charges stemmed from raids the previous March at the firm’s two manufacturing plants near Canyon Country.

Evidence of Dumping

Health officials and law-enforcement authorities said they uncovered evidence that SOS had stored and transported hazardous waste without required permits, and had disposed of chemically contaminated waste water by dumping it along creek beds and spraying it from sprinklers.

Smith; former SOS president Joseph Cabaret, now a TransTechnology vice president, and Michael Murphy, former manager of the SOS Mint Canyon plant, all pleaded no contest to three illegal-storage counts.

As part of their plea bargains, Murphy faces 30 days in jail and Cabaret 10 to 30 days. They are scheduled to be sentenced May 29.