North Jackson manufacturer pleads guilty to hiding crime from parent company
A North Jackson manufacturer has been convicted of committing a crime by hiding attempts to obstruct justice from their parent company in Canada and law enforcement.
A North Jackson manufacturer has been convicted of committing a crime by hiding attempts to obstruct justice from their parent company in Canada and law enforcement.
Extrudex Aluminum, Inc. pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge known as misprision of a felony.
The bill of information, which is handed up instead of going through the grand jury indictment process, alleged that unnamed employees concealed an obstruction of justice investigation from Extrudex management of Canada from April 1, 2016, through January 1, 2018.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was conducting the investigation into the death of a worker at the Extrudex plant on Mahoning Avenue in 2012.
Extrudex, a Woodbridge, Ontario based company, has a facility in Saint-Nicolas, Quebec, in addition to North Jackson
Sentencing is scheduled for August.
In October two managers of the North Jackson plant pleaded not guilty to federal charges alleging that they lied and threatened employees during an investigation into a worker's death.
A four-count federal indictment was handed up against Brian Carder of Stow, Ohio and Paul Love of Lake Milton charging them with one count each of conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice and obstruction of proceedings. Love is also charged with one count of making false statements to law enforcement.
Officials say Carder was the general manager and Love was the safety coordinator and human resources director at Extrudex, an aluminum extrusion manufacturing company with a facility in North Jackson.
The case stemmed from a 2012 incident at the plant when 21-year-old John Tomlin of Niles died when he was pinned by a rack holding more than two tons of hot aluminum. A 19-year-old fellow employee was also burned in the accident.
Federal investigators say that nearly three years before that accident, Carder sent an email expressing concerns he had about the safety of racks and roller systems in the company's oven, writing someone could get "seriously hurt."
According to the indictment, Love and Carder exchanged a series of emails regarding safety concerns about racks falling off the rollers.
Prosecutors say that four months and less than a week before the fatal accident, one Extrudex employee sent emails to Love and other employees about the racks and rollers. One email said the racks were "freezing up." A second email said the racks fell off the rollers twice in one night.
Both emails expressed concerns that someone could get hurt.
According to the indictment, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration requested Extrudex, Carder, and Love produce emails from specific employees to management regarding racks and rollers.
The indictment says Carder, Love, and Extrudex produced only two emails.
Investigators accuse Carder and Love of devising a plan to provide false statements to the OSHA investigator.
Prosecutors claim the duo persuaded employees -- including by suggesting their jobs might be in jeopardy -- to draft statements recanting previous emails about safety issues with the racks and rollers system, according to the indictment.
The indictment says Love and Carder also provided materially false statements regarding, among other things, the safety issues with the racks and rollers system.
Both men are scheduled to go on trial in July