Local News in Brief : Foreman Pleads Guilty
A construction supervisor pleaded guilty Monday in Torrance Superior Court to involuntary manslaughter in the death of a worker who was buried alive when a trench collapsed at a Rolling Hills sewer connection project.
Under a plea bargain, Jeffry Alan Gonterman, 35, of Lakewood will be sentenced to 90 days in county jail and three years’ formal probation in connection with the death last July 24 of Gilberto Torres, 30, at the Palos Verdes Peninsula construction project, Deputy Dist. Atty. Fred Macksoud said.
Officials said Gonterman was charged because he knew that the trench was unstable and that the shoring equipment belonging to the company, Atlas Cesspools of Torrance, was useless.
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