Plant Owners Jailed for Accepting Explosives Illegally

Last week, owners of a scrapyard that neighbors a Los Angeles-area high school were taken into custody to spend several days in jail for violating a court order. Awaiting trial on 25 counts of criminal hazardous waste management violations, the pair were found to have violated a court order by continuing to accept canisters that held explosive materials.

To avoid explosions, a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge ordered the company not to accept any gas containers that hadn’t been cut or punctured. This measure was chosen over assigning bail or taking the owners into custody, to prevent future explosions.
 

Alleged Criminal Title 22/RCRA Violations

On September 26, 2025, a news release from Los Angeles County detailed the charges that the plant owners face. The two were charged with:

• Twenty-one felony counts of knowingly disposing hazardous waste at a site with no permit and one felony county of deposit of hazardous waste.
• One felony count of deposit of hazardous waste.
• Two misdemeanor counts of failure to maintain or operate a facility to minimize the possibility of a fire or explosion and one count of public nuisance.
• One misdemeanor count of failure to operate a facility to minimize the possibility of fire, explosion, or any unplanned sudden or non-sudden release of hazardous waste/hazardous waste constituents to air, soil, or surface water.

Soil from the adjacent high school showed high concentrations of lead and zinc. Metal debris from explosions at the plant have allegedly been found at the school.

The owners plead not guilty and are still awaiting trial.