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Investigations

Date

Employee at Ohio Company Sentenced for Shipping Undeclared Hazardous Materials by Air

On June 4, 2018, Charles Kaye, former warehouse manager, Glow Industries, Inc. (Glow), was sentenced in U.S. District Court, Los Angeles, California, to 2 years’ probation, a $3,000 fine, and a $100 special assessment fee for transporting hazardous materials (hazmat) without marking and labeling them. Kaye pleaded guilty on January 22, 2018. 

The investigation disclosed that Glow employees conspired to ship hazmat via air transportation from a company warehouse in Riverside, California, to Anchorage, Alaska, and concealed any 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 because the exterior packaging was damaged. 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 to conceal the hazmat markings on the exterior. Glow admitted that it directed various managers and employees to conceal the hazardous nature of the package from its shippers. Kaye also admitted that he’d allowed the employees to conceal hazmat markings and that on August 6, 2012, he sent a letter to FAA stating that a Glow employee had inadvertently shipped undeclared hazardous materials from Riverside to Anchorage. In fact, the employee had done so knowingly. 

In January 2018, Glow was sentenced to 5 years’ probation and fined $250,000. As part of its probation, the company was required to establish a rigorous compliance program, subject to review by third-party auditors.