2 Plead Guilty to Illegal Disposal of Asbestos

A construction site manager and a hauler pleaded guilty Wednesday to felony hazardous waste violations in connection with the 1988 demolition of an Atwater Village pottery factory, where cancer-causing asbestos was improperly removed and released into the air, authorities said.

Pradeep Agnihotri of El Toro and Al Sesar of Newport Beach are to be sentenced Nov. 28 in Los Angeles Superior Court on one count each of illegal disposal and transportation of hazardous waste. A second count against each will be dropped, court officials said.

The sentencing will wrap up a case in which prosecutors accused four defendants, including a Los Angeles development company, of knowingly allowing asbestos to escape when they tore down kilns and other structures at the defunct Franciscan Ceramics plant, 2901 Los Feliz Blvd., in December, 1988.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Brodney said two felony charges were filed last April against each of four defendants. The charges were filed against Perlita in L.A., the company that purchased the 45-acre site to build a shopping center; Agnihotri, Perlita’s site manager; John Edwards of Arcadia, whose company demolished the structures; and Sesar, who arranged to have the hazardous materials hauled away.

Perlita in L.A., which has just finished cleaning up the site for development, pleaded no contest in May to one felony count and was fined $450,000 and put on probation for three years. A second count was dropped, Brodney said.

Edwards pleaded no contest in May to a reduced misdemeanor charge and was fined $15,000 and put on a year’s probation, Brodney said.