Criminal Charges Being Looked at in Sinkhole Case : Subway: Authorities seek to determine if construction officials could be liable. Firm denies any wrongdoing.

State and local authorities are quietly pursuing the prospect of criminal charges against Los Angeles subway figures who allegedly endangered the safety of workers at the site of the infamous sinkhole that engulfed part of Hollywood Boulevard in June.

Officials are seeking to determine whether any subway construction officials could be considered criminally liable in the incident for allegedly exposing workers to unsafe conditions and failing to take adequate emergency measures as the sinkhole began collapsing.

Central to the investigation is the allegation that a supervisor for the tunneling contractor, trying to save the tunnel as it gave way in the morning hours of June 22, lied to state safety officials about whether there were still tunnel workers left in the hole. About 20 workers were later forced to flee the collapsing tunnel amid a torrent of dirt and water.

Subway contractors deny any wrongdoing and many involved in the problem-plagued $5.8-billion subway project had hoped to put the sinkhole debacle behind them in the wake of three critical reports on the incident. Several potential targets of the investigation by the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said state officials told them several months ago that they had effectively ruled out any criminal charges.

But Michael Mason, chief counsel for Cal/OSHA’s investigative arm, said in an interview this week: “If that was told to them, it was told to them incorrectly.”

Mason said the agency’s four-month investigation--unusual in that it was ordered directly by the Cal/OSHA administrator--is now in its final stages and that he expects a final recommendation by Nov. 30 on whether to seek criminal charges. “Our objective is to determine who’s culpable and to reach to the highest level of culpability,” he said.

City attorney’s spokesman Mike Qualls said a deputy city attorney met with Cal/OSHA officials this week to discuss the sinkhole case. Cal/OSHA officials have also discussed the possibility of a criminal filing with the district attorney’s office, one source said. The state has also issued subpoenas to several local agencies with records on the case.

By reviewing the case with both city and county prosecutors, the source added, state safety officials leave open the possibility of pursuing misdemeanor charges through the city attorney if the district attorney’s office decides that felony charges are not warranted.

The prospect of criminal charges over the sinkhole marks the latest threat of legal trouble for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is building the subway.

One former top administrator at the MTA who managed insurance coverage for the project has pleaded guilty to charges that he took more than $100,000 in contractor kickbacks and is awaiting sentencing, while federal authorities are continuing to pursue broader allegations of fraud and corruption in the building of the mammoth subway.

In the sinkhole case, authorities are reviewing the events leading up to the opening of an 80-foot-wide hole that swallowed half a block of Hollywood Boulevard near Barnsdall Park. The accident, blamed on faulty design work, caused more than $6 million in damage to the tunnel under construction and has accelerated demands to end the project.

Cal/OSHA has already levied $70,750 in fines against Shea-Kiewit-Kenny, the tunneling contractor that was fired over the summer from the Hollywood subway job.

In citations that are now being contested by the contractor, safety officials alleged that SKK officials had required miners to work in unsafe conditions, where they were “exposed to being killed or seriously injured,” and had “usurped the authority” of Cal/OSHA officials who sought to evacuate the tunnel on the morning of the sinkhole.

Those allegations now form the crux of the potential criminal case, officials said.

Richard Hughes, principal safety engineer for Cal/OSHA’s mining and tunneling unit, said officials are considering the possibility of seeking criminal charges against tunneling contractor SKK and Norm Hutchins, one of the firm’s supervisors on the job.

In their discussions with state safety officials, Hughes said, local prosecutors appeared “most interested in the allegation that Norm Hutchins had lied to officials and was trying to cover up the fact that employees were still underground. That was the primary interest, but there were other issues we had looked at--communications and training issues and whether employees were properly informed what to do in the event of an emergency”--that have also come under review,” he said.

Michael Nasatir, an attorney for Hutchins, declined comment on the issue, reiterating his client’s assertions that he had done his best to build a good tunnel in a safe manner.

SKK is paying Hutchins’ legal fees, said firm President John Shea. “I absolutely don’t believe he’s done anything wrong. He did one hell of a job trying to save that tunnel,” Shea said.

Shea said he was perplexed by the idea of criminal charges against the company or any of its employees. “I don’t know who they’d go after,” he said.

The firm’s attorney, Thomas McGuire, also defended SKK’s handling of the sinkhole incident. On the morning of the sinkhole, McGuire said, the contractor turned over responsibility for the emergency operation to the city Fire Department and SKK employees handled their end of the operation “properly and valiantly.”