The president and manager of a company accused of exposing workers at a facility in Carson to a toxic chemical linked to cancer have been charged along with the business with five felony counts, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
Hormoz Foroughi, 51, of Newport Beach, and Amine Elmaziati, 43, of Long Beach, are set to be arraigned Tuesday in a Compton courtroom on one count each of failure to disclose a serious concealed danger, forgery, filing a false document, disposal of hazardous waste at an unpermitted site and illegal storage of hazardous waste at a site without a permit, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
The company, Parter Medical Products Inc., doing business as Parter Sterilization Services, is facing the same charges.
The case was filed about two weeks after more than 20 members of the District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigation, in coordination with the Los Angeles County Fire Department and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, served a search warrant at the business.
“This case sends a clear message: If you expose your workers to dangerous chemicals and then falsify records or mislead regulators, we will come after you,” District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement announcing the charges. “Ethylene oxide is linked to cancer and other serious health risks. Companies that cut corners and conceal hazards not only endanger lives, they violate the public*s trust. We will hold them accountable, and any business that thinks otherwise should consider this a warning.”
Authorities said ethylene oxide — which is colorless and has an odor that is undetectable until it reaches harmful concentrations — is a hazardous gas linked to cancer, reproductive harm and neurological damage. It is colorless.
The District Attorney’s Office alleges that the company was aware that some employees were exposed to elevated levels of the chemical, but failed to take adequate steps to mitigate the danger and then attempted to mask the risk through falsified documentation and illegal waste practices.
Foroughi and Elmaziati could face up to six years in state prison if convicted as charged, according to the District Attorney’s Office.