Local News in Brief : Firm’s Ex-Owner Guilty in Toxic Case
The former owner of a Sun Valley chemical company has been convicted of failing to dispose of hazardous chemicals left behind when a fire destroyed her plant in 1985.
Marianne Pratter, 52, president of Research Organic and Inorganic Chemical Co., was pronounced guilty in San Fernando Superior Court of illegal disposal by abandonment of hazardous wastes. Judge Fred Rimerman ordered Pratter, who had been free on her own recognizance, held at County Jail until a Jan. 5 sentencing hearing, despite her attorney’s argument that she is in poor health.
Pratter could be sentenced to a maximum of three years in prison and a $50,000 fine.
Fifty-six people suffered minor injuries from chemical fumes released by the April 14, 1985, fire.
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