Costly ‘Canned Air’

The Broadway has cornered the market on a dust-busting product.

Thanks to an unplanned influx of orders, the company said it has more than 1,300 cases of computer cleaning kits containing thousands of cans of “canned air,” a pressurized product used to blow dust off computer parts. The cost: an estimated $186,000.

That’s the figure given by a former Broadway employee who pleaded not guilty Aug. 7 in Los Angeles Municipal Court to charges of grand theft in connection with the ordering. In a statement to authorities, the employee, Chris E. Hindrichs, 39, of Lake View Terrace, said another order totaling nearly $500,000 was on its way.

According to Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Youngdahl, Hindrichs claimed to have fallen victim to a “premium” arrangement. The defendant was initially solicited in a phone call last October to buy six kits for $160 from a telemarketing company in New York called C. E. D. Chem, according to the statement. The defendant then received unsolicited orders of escalating value, along with premiums for increasingly expensive gifts, such as a five-inch television, a compact disc player and a satellite dish.

The defendant was to have received a BMW auto for the $500,000 order, but neither it nor the order has arrived. Hindrichs’ attorney, Martin E. Green, had no comment.

David Grant, sales manager for C. E. D. Chem, based in Central Islip, N.Y., said the allegations are “ludicrous.” The company, which he said has been in business for several years and is not a “fly-by-night” operation, does more than $1 million in volume each year.

He said it is not the company’s policy to offer premiums on sales.

Meanwhile, the Broadway isn’t saying what it plans to do with all the extra air.

Who knows? In trendy Los Angeles, there just might be a market for a designer duster at $50 a pop. But if not, the Broadway’s computer operation will be set for quite some time. In the past six months, it has used up only half a can of the stuff.