The Region - News from Jan. 1, 1987

Criminal charges were filed against the operator of a pesticide-control firm stemming from the alleged misuse of a pesticide that sent seven employees of the Neiman-Marcus department store in Beverly Hills to the hospital last August. Charles Leonard Gallo, 55, of Woodland Hills, who operates The Eliminator firm based in Granada Hills, was charged with 30 criminal counts, 28 of them for performing pest-control work without a state license. Chi Wai Eng , 26, of Montebello, an employee of The Eliminator, was charged with four counts. The city attorney’s office said the defendants misapplied boric acid on several floors of the store and engaged in unlicensed pesticide work at several other locations. While boric acid, a commonly used pesticide, is supposed to be placed in unexposed areas, the defendants dusted it on floors and on top of boxes in a storeroom, the city attorney’s office charged.