OXNARD : D.A. Files Charges in Worker’s Death

The Ventura County district attorney’s office has filed criminal manslaughter charges against a Ventura-based rock-processing company in the death of a worker who was fatally mangled when someone turned on the rock crusher he was cleaning.

Without naming any company officials, prosecutors Tuesday filed one felony count of involuntary manslaughter and one misdemeanor count of serious failure to follow a safety order against VenVirotek in the death of Rudolfo Ayon, 58.

Prosecutors also filed one misdemeanor count of serious failure to follow a safety order against Pacific Labor Services, the labor contractor that employed Ayon at the VenVirotek plant, and VenVirotek employees Andy Austin, 28, of Ventura and Mike Hall, 36, of Oxnard.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Gregory Brose said the companies face maximum fines of up to $10,000 each if convicted. The employees face up to six months in jail. Arraignment is scheduled Jan. 14.

Ayon, of Oxnard, died Dec. 12, 1989, while working at VenVirotek’s plant on Gonzales Road in Oxnard, where oil well tailings are mixed with cement and used to cover the Ventura landfill.

Someone who has yet to be identified activated the rock crusher’s huge metal screw while Ayon was inside the barrel scraping the screw blades, Brose said. The machine was properly equipped with safety devices required by state law that would have prevented it from operating while someone was inside, Brose said.

“There was an immediate cry, ‘Stop the machine!’ or something to that effect, but it was too late,” Brose said. “He was killed instantly.”

Rafael Ramos, owner of Pacific Labor Services, said Tuesday that he had not heard about the criminal charges filed by Brose’s division.

“I’m somewhat shocked that he would take that position. It’s a gray area. It’s VenVirotek’s property; it’s VenVirotek’s equipment. . . . It’s hard for me to comment one way or the other.”

Donald Slack, president of VenVirotek, said: “I don’t care to comment. I don’t know anything about it.”

Austin and Hall could not be reached for comment.