Plant Operators Accused of Mishandling Cyanide Wastes

Two brothers who operated a North Hollywood plating company were charged Friday with recklessly handling and storing thousands of gallons of cyanide waste and other hazardous materials, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Cyanide was also dumped into the Los Angeles sewer system at the All-American Plating Corp. in the 7100 block of Vineland Avenue, while open and unlabeled tanks of acids were stored so close together that an accidental mixture could have formed a toxic cloud, Deputy Dist. Atty. William W. Carter said.

“If the cyanide had mixed with the other acid waste, you would have had a similar reaction to what you have in a gas chamber,” Carter said. “An inadvertent mixture of the two would have generated a cyanide cloud.”

Carter said Yoav (Joe) Pantilant, 52, of Woodland Hills, owner and president of All-American Plating until it closed and was sold last month, was arrested Friday morning while cleaning out his desk at the business. His brother, Sarv (Tom) Pantilant, 45, a general manager of the firm, was arrested at his Saugus home.

Carter said the brothers each face one felony count of reckless handling and storage of hazardous materials, seven misdemeanor counts of illegal storage of hazardous materials and one misdemeanor count of illegally discharging into the sewer system.

The Pantilants were the first suspects to face felony charges under a new state law making it illegal to knowingly handle or store hazardous materials in a reckless manner, Carter said.

The brothers could face up to three years in prison and $100,000 in fines if convicted of the felony. They were being held at County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail each.

The company, which electroplated aircraft parts in a process that involved placing them in large cyanide and acid baths, closed after the city of Los Angeles cut off its sewer hookup and the district attorney’s office searched the business, Carter said.

The investigation was initiated when employees told authorities about conditions at the plant. The company had been convicted in 1987 of illegally dumping cyanide into a dumpster and placed on three years probation and fined $25,000 in a civil complaint case, Carter said. The fine was never paid, he added.

On April 27, investigators with a search warrant raided the plant, Carter said.

“We caught them discharging cyanide into the sewer on the day we were there,” he said. “You could smell cyanide in the air.”

He said investigators found a storage room in the plant containing as much as a two-year buildup of various acid wastes.

“There were thousands of gallons in big tanks, open tanks,” Carter said. “Nothing was labeled, and it was being handled and stored in such a way that it was a risk.”

On May 15, the city cut off sewer service and the county Department of Health Services began removing hazardous materials. The company will be charged for the cleanup, Carter said.

Though closed down, the business apparently was sold to a Mexican company in June, Carter said.

Attorneys for the Pantilants could not be reached for comment Friday.