U.S. Indicts 3 Rocketdyne Scientists in Fatal Blast

Three scientists involved in the 1994 rocket fuel explosion that killed two workers at a field laboratory near Chatsworth were indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday on charges of violating U.S. environmental laws, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

The three were employed by Rockwell International Corp.’s Rocketdyne Division, which was sold in 1996 to Seattle-based Boeing Co.

The indictment names Joseph E. Flanagan, 58, a former director of Rocketdyne’s chemical technology group who is now retired in Stanwood, Wash. Also indicted were James F. Weber, 49, of Moorpark, and Edgar R. Wilson, 62, of Simi Valley, who are still employed by Rocketdyne.

The men were charged in federal court documents with illegally storing and burning explosive waste in a 2 1/2-month period in 1994 when they worked at the company’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory in the mountains between Chatsworth and Simi Valley.

The alleged violations led to the July 26, 1994, explosion that killed physicists Otto Heiney and Larry Pugh, federal officials charge.

If convicted of all four counts, the three men each face a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and fines of up to $250,000.

“Corporations can only act through their individual employees,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. Joseph Johns, one of two prosecutors in the case. “So it is the rule rather than exception for us to identify and prosecute the individuals responsible for such criminal activity.”

Initially, executives with Rockwell’s Rocketdyne division said Heiney and Pugh were conducting a scientific experiment involving the mixture of chemicals.

But authorities concluded that the scientific research cited by company officials was a cover for criminal actions, including illegal destruction of explosive wastes.

Boeing has not been accused of wrongdoing in the case.

In 1996, Rockwell pleaded guilty in federal court to three felony counts of mishandling hazardous waste and agreed to pay the U.S. government $6.5 million in fines.

The plea agreement granted Rockwell immunity from federal charges in any case of illegal handling, disposal, storage or transportation of hazardous wastes that occurred since 1991. It did not shield employees.

Lawyers for the defendants accused the government of trying to find scapegoats for a tragic accident.

“After dragging its feet for nearly five years, the government compounded the trauma by indicting the co-workers and friends of the two men who died while conducting the experiments,” said a statement issued by Weber’s defense attorneys, James R. Asperger and Mark Holscher.

“Like the other defense lawyers in the case, we intend to vindicate our client.”