Investigations
Ohio Company Based in California and Employee Sentenced for Shipping Undeclared Hazardous Materials by Air
USAO, Central District of California - Press ReleaseOn January 22, 2018, Charles Kaye, former warehouse manager, Glow Industries, Inc. (Glow), pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court, Los Angeles, California, to transporting hazardous materials (hazmat) without marking and labeling. On January 29, the company itself was sentenced to 5 years’ probation—under which it must establish a rigorous compliance program—and fined $250,000.
On July 13, 2017, Glow and Kaye were indicted after an investigation disclosed Glow employees conspired to ship hazmat via air transportation from a company warehouse in Riverside, California, to Anchorage, Alaska, and conceal the appropriate markings that identified the shipments as hazardous.
On July 30, 2012, the United Parcel Service (UPS) examined a shipment from Glow at its Anchorage airport facility. The exterior packaging was damaged, and after inspecting the contents, UPS discovered six fiberboard boxes, each containing twelve 320-milliliter cans of Vector Butane Gas, a hazmat. Closer examination showed the outer packaging originally had been marked in the same manner as the packages inside the box. However, the outer packaging had been reassembled inside out, which concealed the hazmat markings on the exterior of the package. Glow admitted that it directed various managers and employees to conceal the hazardous nature of the hazmat from its shippers. Kaye also allowed the employees to conceal hazmat markings, and on August 6, 2012, he sent a letter to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stating a Glow employee had inadvertently shipped undeclared hazardous materials from Riverside to Anchorage when, in fact, the employee had done so knowingly.