NORTH JACKSON, Ohio - Two managers of a North Jackson aluminum extrusion manufacturing company are facing federal charges of allegedly obstructing an investigation into a worker's death. 

The Department of Justice says 62-year-old Brian Carder and 57-year-old Paul Love are charged in a four-count federal 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.

According to the indictment, Extrudex processed aluminum and part of the process included putting extruded aluminum pieces through a long, walk-in, tunnel-style oven. The Department of Justice says employees routinely loaded and unloaded the oven manually by pushing racks of aluminum into and out of the oven on a roller conveyor system. 

The indictment says that nearly three years before a deadly accident that left a 21-year-old Niles man dead, Carder sent an email to an Extrudex employee, copying Love and other employees, regarding maintenance and safety issues with the racks and rollers system in the oven. Among other things, Carder wrote that the racks and rollers system was "in need of dire attention" and that issues with the system "must be a priority or someone is going to get seriously hurt."

Federal officials allege that Love and Carder exchanged a series of emails regarding safety concerns about racks falling off the rollers. Federal prosecutors say that in one email Carder wrote: "{w}e are going to wait until someone gets seriously injury or possibly killed when a rack falls on them."

Investigators say an Extrudex employee sent an email to Love on June 26, 2012, stating a rack fell off the rollers and that racks were frequently "freezing up." The employee also stated: "I'm afraid someone is going to get hurt if we can't think of a better system to get these racks out of the oven safely." Love forwarded that email to others, including Carder.

The same employee sent another email to other employees on Oct. 26, 2012, stating the oven racks fell off the rollers twice that night and that "someone is going to (get) hurt if nothing else is done about it".

Just days later, on October 30th, 2012, two metal racks stacked on top of each other with hot aluminum product weighing an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 pounds tipped over onto two employees who were pushing the racks on the roller conveyor system.

Both employees were pinned under the hot racks and hot aluminum. 

One employee, identified by officials after accident as 21-year-old John Tomlin, was pronounced dead the scene. Another employee, a 19-year-old was rescued by other workers and hospitalized with severe burns.

According to the indictment, the next day, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) initiated an investigation.

OSHA allegedly 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.

"These supervisors threatened employees and lied to investigators," U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman said. "They will be held accountable."

"An important mission of the Office of Inspector General is to investigate allegations of criminal misconduct related to U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) programs.  We will continue to work DOL's Occupational Safety and Health Administration and our law enforcement partners to hold those accountable who jeopardize workers' safety," said James Vanderberg, Special Agent-in-Charge, Chicago Region, U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General.

Tomlin's wife filed a civil lawsuit against the company in 2014, that case is closed after it was dismissed with prejudice against the company.