Man Fined in Deadly Lab Blast

A Moorpark man was fined $5,000 and sentenced to one year of probation Monday in the 1994 blast that killed two scientists at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory near Simi Valley.

James F. Weber, 52, the first former Rocketdyne employee to be sentenced in the case, pleaded guilty last August to one misdemeanor count of unlawfully storing explosive materials. As part of his plea, Weber agreed to testify against his two co-defendants, but prosecutors never called him as a witness.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Timlin imposed the sentence.

Weber’s co-defendants, Joseph E. Flanagan, 61, of Stanwood, Wash., and Edgar R. Wilson, 65, of Chatsworth, were accused of illegally burning chemical waste at the field laboratory on July 21 and 26, 1994.

Flanagan, then director of Rocketdyne’s Chemical Technology Group, also was charged with illegal waste storage.

Each felony count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

In March, after a four-month trial, a Riverside jury deadlocked 10 to 2 in favor of guilt on all of the charges.

The case was tried in Riverside because it was randomly assigned to Timlin, who is part of the federal court’s Central California District, based in Los Angeles.

Rather than face a retrial, Flanagan pleaded guilty in June to two misdemeanor counts of illegally storing explosive materials. He now faces up to a year in federal prison and a $100,000 fine on each count. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 9.

Wilson’s retrial is set for Feb. 11.

Prosecutors alleged that the defendants violated federal environmental laws when they burned chemicals at the outdoor test site.

During the burn on July 26, 1994, the chemicals accidentally exploded, killing Otto K. Heiney, 53, of Canoga Park, and Larry A. Pugh, 51, of Thousand Oaks.

Weber and Wilson were present when the explosion occurred; Flanagan, who supervised the scientists, was not.