Earthquake: The Road To Recovery : The Case of the Contaminated Clothing : Northridge: Mall cleanup workers are caught wearing asbestos-tainted inventory slated for disposal. But are they guilty of any crime?

When police showed up at the heavily damaged Sears store in the Northridge Fashion Center to investigate complaints that the cleanup crew was clearing out more than asbestos in the wake of the earthquake, they were puzzled at first.

About 20 members of the asbestos cleanup crew were wearing brand-new clothes out of contaminated and sealed-off areas inside the store, despite orders from Sears, Roebuck & Co. to legally dispose of the tainted items by sealing them and taking them to a toxic-waste dump, police said Friday.

But can you be charged with stealing something that has already been deemed rubbish?

After detaining crew members Thursday, police conferred with prosecutors in the city attorney and district attorney’s offices. They determined that the answer is no--that no theft had occurred, said Lt. John Dunkin of the Los Angeles Police Department. The men were released, and no charges were filed.

But that doesn’t mean the cleanup crew is in the clear.

Police will also be meeting with the district attorney’s staff and other authorities, Dunkin said, to ascertain whether crew members broke environmental laws regulating the disposal of hazardous materials.

“What is still to be explored is whether taking those contaminated items constitutes some health-and-safety violation,” he said. “We will explore that so we can answer the questions.”

Dunkin said the items apparently were exposed to asbestos as a result of the earthquake and were “commingled” with the debris. Sears “considered the clothing contaminated and wanted it disposed of,” Dunkin said. “Apparently, rather than disposing it, the cleaning crew kept some part or all of the clothing.”

Regulations concerning the removal of asbestos--who may do it and where and how it must be disposed of--are stringent because the material is considered a potentially deadly carcinogen. If inhaled, asbestos fibers can cause lung and other cancers. However, the substance is considered safe when left intact.

Objects contaminated by asbestos, as the clothing may have been, would have to be thoroughly decontaminated before being removed from the site or would have to be disposed of by being properly bagged, labeled and hauled to a landfill approved to accept such waste, according to asbestos-removal experts.

Los Angeles Police Sgt. Roger Dowis said mall security guards first noticed something was amiss and then caught the crew members late Thursday as they were wearing or carrying goods out of the closed-off store.

“They knew stuff was being (taken) because they’d look at it and it was brand-new,” Dowis said. “Security guards were looking at these guys and saying, ‘Hey! You’re wearing Sears clothing, and Sears shoes that were brand-new.’ ”

“I think most of the workers were involved in this,” Dowis said. “For two or three days, when they were working on the asbestos.”

Terry Graham, a Sears manager, said Friday that the company was investigating but had no comment.

Asbestos cleanup at the shopping center has required a massive, multimillion-dollar effort. The mall, located about a mile from the epicenter, was badly damaged in the Jan. 17 earthquake and is expected to remain closed for at least several months.

One Sears employee familiar with the situation said, “They wouldn’t let us go in and get our personal effects because they are tainted with asbestos.”

Yet, he said, the cleanup crew “were wearing new shoes when they were caught, and a few pair of pants each.”