Investigations

On July 13, 2017, Glow Industries, Inc. (Glow), and Charles Kaye, a former Glow warehouse manager, were indicted in U.S. District Court, Central District of California, for conspiracy and violations of Federal law pertaining to the transportation of hazardous materials (hazmat).

 

Glow is a corporation that sells tobacco products and other accessories, and Kaye was employed there as a manager. The indictment alleges that on 13 occasions, between May 25, 2012, and July 18, 2012, Glow employees conspired to ship hazmat from a company warehouse and conceal the appropriate markings that identified the shipments as hazardous. Glow also failed to provide training to employees who handled hazmat. Kaye allowed the employees to conceal those markings, and on August 6, 2012, he sent a letter to FAA that stated a Glow employee had inadvertently shipped undeclared hazardous materials from Riverside, California, to Anchorage, Alaska. In fact, the employee knowingly shipped the materials undeclared.

 

This investigation began after the United Parcel Service (UPS) examined a shipment from Glow on July 30, 2012, at its Anchorage airport facility. The exterior packaging was damaged and, upon inspection of the contents, UPS discovered six fiberboard boxes each containing twelve 320-milliliter cans of Vector Butane Gas, a hazardous material. Closer examination of the damaged outer packaging showed it originally had been marked in the same manner as the packages inside the damaged box. However, the outer packaging had been disassembled and then reassembled with all exterior sides now serving as the interior sides, which concealed the hazmat markings on the package.

 

Note: Indictments, informations, and criminal complaints are only accusations by the Government. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.