Pest Control Firm Owner Sentenced in Fumigation Death

The owner of a Long Beach fumigation company has been sentenced to 60 days in jail or 40 days of picking up trash along Los Angeles-area freeways in a criminal case stemming from the 1988 death of a mentally disabled man who was overcome by poison gas used to kill termites in his Southwest Los Angeles home.

In addition, Sunset Fumigation, which is owned by Louis E. Tilley of Los Alamitos, was hit with $5,100 in fines and penalties on Tuesday by Los Angeles Municipal Court Commissioner Richard Sandoval.

Tilley had pleaded no contest to one violation of the state Business and Professions Code, which makes it a crime for failure to use effective secondary locks on a house undergoing fumigation. The 34-year-old businessman also was placed on three years probation.

Probation Violation

The fine imposed by Sandoval was for a probation violation by the fumigation company growing out of a previous conviction for the illegal transportation of hazardous materials, according to Deputy City. Atty. Donald Kass, who prosecuted the case.

Tilley is to reappear before Sandoval on Oct. 30 with proof that he has completed the 40 days of work for Caltrans; otherwise, Tilley is to begin his jail sentence.

The criminal complaint against Tilley and his firm was filed in December after the death of Donald Akers, 34, a Vietnam War veteran with a service-related mental disability, according to Kass.

Found by Workers

Akers was found on the bedroom floor of his home by Sunset workers on Feb. 21, 1988, after they arrived to ventilate the house, which had been tented and fumigated. An autopsy revealed that Akers had died of acute sulfuryl flouride intoxication.

At the time of the fumigation, according to Kass, Akers and his parents were staying in adjacent rooms at a nearby hotel. But Akers apparently returned to the house and went inside.

Sunset workers had appropriately placed a “ball lock,” a device that fits over and blocks a keyhole, on the front door of the single-story house on West 88th Place. But on the other doors they had used only “staples,” devices placed inside keyholes to prevent the insertion of a key, according to Kass. Sometimes the “staples” do not block entry, Kass said.