Guilty Pleas Expected in Rockwell Blast

Rockwell International is expected to plead guilty Monday to several federal felony charges and agree to pay fines in the 1994 chemical blast that killed two of its scientists at the firm’s Santa Susana field laboratory, sources said Friday.

Rockwell spokesman Bill Blanning refused to comment on the case Friday, as did officials with the FBI, Cal/OSHA and the U.S. attorney’s office.

But U.S. attorney’s spokeswoman Carol Levitsky confirmed that her office will make an announcement Monday regarding the investigation.

And sources close to the investigation said this week that Rockwell officials have agreed to settle the charges without trial by admitting guilt and paying fines in the July 26, 1994, explosion deaths of physicists Otto K. Heiney and Larry A. Pugh.

Also, the sources said, U.S. prosecutors will continue to show a federal grand jury evidence that could be used to lodge civil and criminal indictments against Rocketdyne officials who oversaw the Santa Susana field where the men died.

Sources close to the case have said the prosecution has focused on apparent violations of environmental and work safety laws, and also on whether Rocketdyne defrauded the U.S. government of millions of dollars over the last several years by burning hazardous waste that the firm was paid to dispose of properly.

Heiney, 53, and Pugh, 51, were killed instantly at a test stand in the region of Rocketdyne’s rocky 2,700-acre field lab known as “Happy Valley” when the rocket fuel ingredients they were working with blew up.

After the accident, Rocketdyne President Paul Smith said the men were igniting highly explosive materials and measuring blast waves as part of a legitimate experiment.

But Cal/OSHA investigators said in a report that the two appeared to be blowing up the chemicals to get rid of them.