Local News in Brief : Chemical-Firm Owner Enters Not-Guilty Plea
Marianne Pratter, former owner of a Sun Valley chemical company that burned last year injuring 56 people, pleaded not guilty Thursday in San Fernando Municipal Court to charges that she illegally stored and disposed of hazardous materials.
Pratter’s company, Research Organic & Inorganic Chemical Co., was destroyed April 13, 1985, in a fire that released toxic fumes and required a cleanup of the site by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The charges are connected with Pratter’s alleged failure to remove salvageable hazardous materials from the building after the fire.
The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office charged Pratter with two felony counts of unlawful disposal of hazardous wastes and three misdemeanor counts--maintaining a public nuisance, unlawful storage of hazardous wastes and failure to properly store a radioactive substance.
If convicted, she faces a maximum of 3 years, 8 months in prison and a $150,000 fine. Pratter is free on $10,000 bail. Her preliminary hearing date is Aug. 5 in San Fernando Municipal Court.
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