2 Charged in Workers’ Deaths at Dairy

A former Merced County dairyman and his foreman have been indicted on involuntary manslaughter charges in the deaths of two employees who fainted and drowned in a pool of liquid manure.

Patrick J. Faria and Alcino Sousa Nunes were charged in a grand jury indictment unsealed Friday with multiple felony counts stemming from the February 2001 deaths of the workers, who were overcome by waste fumes while attempting to fix a pump.

While manslaughter charges have been brought against employers in job-related fatalities in the construction and other industries, attorneys and regulators said they believe this is the first-ever manslaughter prosecution in a farm case in California.

“I think it’s a very significant and noteworthy event,” said Michael Mason, chief counsel in the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health.

Merced County Deputy Dist. Atty. Bruce Gilbert said his office pursued criminal charges in the deaths because it was “an extreme example of putting workers at risk and not taking virtually any precautions.

“It’s been known back since the ‘80s that this was a problem,” he said, referring to the danger of waste fumes. “It’s not something new to the dairy industry.”

Sacramento attorney Larry Kazanjian, who represents Faria and the dairy, said it was “an insane use of the criminal system to take individuals who were operating a business in a reasonable fashion and criminalize them as a result of accidents.”

Faria, who has since sold the dairy, was not even at the farm when the incident occurred, Kazanjian said. The dairy operation was a small one and the Farias “were absolutely devastated” by the deaths, he added. “It’s like losing family.”

The two workers, Jose Alatorre and Enrique Araisa, died on the Aquiar-Faria & Sons dairy near Gustine when 29-year-old Araisa climbed down into a large, open-ended concrete stand pipe to fix a jammed pump. He fainted from the fumes and fell into a pool of liquid manure at the bottom of the 30-foot-tall pipe, part of a system that pumped the manure into fields as fertilizer.

When Alatorre, 22, went to Araisa’s aid, he too passed out and plunged into the pool of waste. It was Alatorre’s first wedding anniversary.

Other than a rope tied around one of them, prosecutors said the men were not using any of the safety equipment required under state codes.

“All of those things that are standard protocol for a confined space -- there’s no evidence that any of those had been used,” said Gale Filter of the California District Attorneys Assn., who helped develop the case.

The indictment, which had been sealed since it was handed down by a county grand jury last month, charges Faria, Nunes and the dairy with two counts of involuntary manslaughter as well as multiple felony counts of worker safety violations. Among them: not providing adequate training, not flushing the pipe of harmful substances or testing the air before workers entered it and not providing protective respiratory equipment.

Gilbert said the dairy faces a maximum $1.5-million fine and Nunes and Faria up to four years in state prison, along with $250,000 in fines, if they are convicted.

Nunes surrendered Friday and was released after posting bond on $115,000 bail. Faria, 51, was out of town but would return and surrender, his attorney said.

Dairy association executives, who said they thought the dairy had a good safety record, expressed sadness at the prosecution.

“I don’t think anybody gains by it,” said Domenic Carinalli, president of the Western United Dairymen, which represents the bulk of California’s 2,000 dairy operations.

“If they’re doing this to teach the industry a lesson, we don’t need that kind of a lesson,” he said. “All the people I know -- farm safety is one of the first things on our list. I don’t think it’s going to make things any better for the employees.”

The case is among the first brought under a new state law permitting worker safety violations to be filed as felonies rather than misdemeanors. Another case, involving the death of a gold mine worker, was dismissed Thursday by a Sierra County Superior Court judge who set aside a manslaughter indictment against the owner and manager of the Sixteen-to-One mine in Alleghany.