Plant Owner Enters Plea in Toxic Waste Case
The owner of a Saticoy chemical plant that burned down in 1989 has pleaded not guilty to charges that he violated hazardous-waste laws.
Benjamin L. Adams, 42, of Newbury Park was arraigned Friday in Ventura County Municipal Court on four misdemeanor charges of illegal disposal and storage of hazardous materials at Pacific Intermediates, a supplier to pharmaceutical companies.
Adams initially faced four felony violations, but prosecutors reduced the charges to misdemeanors after re-evaluating evidence from Adams’ five-day preliminary hearing in December.
If convicted of the four misdemeanor charges, Adams could be sentenced to a maximum of one year in the Ventura County Jail and a $100,000 fine.
The alleged violations occurred in the months before an April, 1989, fire that destroyed the company and forced 1,500 Saticoy residents to evacuate their homes for a night. Several firefighters complained of minor injuries.
“We don’t think under the laws of 1987 to early 1989 that he committed any offenses,” said Adams’ attorney, David Patrick Callahan. Adams, who remains free on $50,000 bail, is leaving next week on a business trip to Vietnam, Callahan said.
But Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael D. Schwartz contended that fumes from hazardous wastes sickened a firefighter and county building safety inspector in July, 1988. Schwartz also said that barrels were stored in an alleyway and that lithium was stored in a rusty drum.
Municipal Judge Herbert Curtis III set a court hearing for 9 a.m. April 1. “We’ll sit down and see if we can dispose of this case,” Callahan said.
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