Driver Charged Over Radioactive Material
A Newbury Park truck driver has been charged with failing to properly secure a package of highly radioactive material he was transporting, authorities said Wednesday.
Frank Giesen, 50, was stopped by Los Angeles police May 15, 1995, as his pickup truck allegedly exceeded the 35 mph speed limit on Anaheim Boulevard in Wilmington, said Rubin Harsoyo, a deputy city attorney.
Giesen, a driver with a New York-based hazardous materials transportation company, is accused of carrying an unsecured metal box of iridium 192 in the closet of a camper shell on the pickup, Harsoyo said. Iridium 192 is used in the X-ray testing of walls and pipelines.
“It’s really potent radioactivity,” Harsoyo said, adding that had it been released from its box, the substance could have posed a serious health threat.
Giesen is also charged with the improper location of shipping papers.
His employer, SGS Industrial Services, is charged with failing to properly label the package containing the radioactive material as well as failing to properly secure it. The charges were filed Tuesday just before expiration of the one-year statute of limitations for this kind of crime, Harsoyo said.
Each count is punishable by up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. Arraignment for Giesen and his employer is set June 5 in Los Angeles Municipal Court.
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