Doctor Who Stored Radioactive Matter Pleads No Contest

A Sylmar doctor Friday became the first person in the city of Los Angeles to be prosecuted and convicted under a 1961 state law that regulates storage and use of radioactive materials.

Bienvenido Tan, 60, pleaded no contest to six charges in Los Angeles Municipal Court and was ordered to pay maximum fines and penalties of $10,200, according to City Atty. James K. Hahn.

Al Ferguson, head of radiation management for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, said he referred the violations to the city attorney’s office after inspectors found radioactive material stored at Tan’s medical clinic on at least three occasions.

Health officials normally do not bring such violators to the attention of prosecutors. Instead, violators are given a chance to comply with the law by removing the material, Ferguson said.

In Tan’s case, inspectors found the radioactive material, americium, when they inspected the medical center in July and November of 1985 and April, 1986, Ferguson said.

“Each of those times, he was told to get rid of the material,” Ferguson said.

The charges, filed July 24 under a state law known as the California Radiation Control Regulations, included three counts of possessing radioactive material without a license, two counts of failure to label containers and one of failing to keep proper records, Deputy City Atty. Gwendolyn Irby said.

First Prosecution

“This is the first criminal prosecution by my office under this portion of the California Administrative Code,” Hahn said in a statement. “We’re unaware of any similar case being successfully prosecuted anywhere in the state.”

During their July, 1985, inspection of Tan’s offices, on the 12800 block of Foothill Boulevard, health officials found almost 1,700 aspirin-sized pieces of americium wrapped in foil, prosecutors said. Inspectors found smaller amounts of the material in the other inspections, Irby said.

The americium was used in smoke detectors that Tan manufactured at a Granada Hills company called Alarm Concepts, said Mike Qualls, spokesman for the city attorney’s office. Alarm Concepts closed in 1984, Qualls said.

The americium, a radioactive isotope, posed no immediate danger to the public but could have been dangerous if swallowed or burned, Qualls and Ferguson said. A qualified disposal firm has since removed the material, Qualls said.

Second Case

In a related case, a Dec. 4 arraignment has been set for the owner of the second Los Angeles company to be prosecuted under the same state law.

California Bionuclear Corp. and its owner, Riad M. Ahmed, each were charged July 29 in a 90-count complaint that alleged 35 violations of the radiation law. Each count carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, Qualls said.

Authorities who raided the plant in January found it was a “bomb waiting to go off,” and radiation levels there were 100 times above normal, Hahn said.

Fire officials discovered the hazard during a routine inspection several days before the raid and contacted the city attorney’s office. The plant had been cited by fire officials in August, 1984, for improperly storing chemicals, fire officials said.

The plant, in the 7600 block of San Fernando Road, is closed, but Ahmed is moving his chemical manufacturing operation to the Gardena area, Qualls said. Ferguson said he expected health officials to finish cleaning up the Sun Valley plant by the end of the year.