Congress issues subpoena for Peanut Corp. president
Stewart Parnell, president of Peanut Corp. of America, had been called to appear before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, as hearings open Wednesday. But Parnell indicated he would not appear voluntarily and the committee voted Tuesday to issue a subpoena to compel his appearance.
The committee, headed by U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), is investigating the salmonella outbreak that has been traced to Peanut Corp.s Blakely peanut processing plant. The number of people sickened by the outbreak rose to 600, affecting 44 states and is possibly the cause of eight deaths, federal officials said Tuesday.
The outbreak has prompted one of the largest food recalls in history, with 1,844 products on the federal off-limits list.
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Guilty Verdict
FOOD SAFETY NEWS By Dan Flynn |
September 19, 2014 http://www.foodsafet...l-in-albany-ga/
Former Peanut Corporation of America owner Stewart Parnell, his brother and one-time peanut broker, Michael Parnell, and Mary Wilkerson, former quality control manager at the company’s Blakely, GA, plant, were all found guilty today by a federal jury in Albany, GA.
Sentencing will come later. Announcement of the jury verdicts brought an emotional outburst from the two Parnell families, while Stewart Parnell simply put his head down.
Parnell, former chief executive of the now-defunct company with plants in three states producing peanut butter and peanut paste used for its own products and as an ingredient in almost 4,000 others, was convicted by the 12-member jury for his role in a deadly Salmonella outbreak that began almost six years ago.
The government accused Parnell, his brother and the quality control manager of a mammoth conspiracy that involved fraud, wire fraud, obstruction of justice, and knowingly introducing both adulterated and misbranded food into interstate commerce. They said that food safety took a back seat to getting shipments out, and that Parnell did not care if product contaminated with Salmonella was delivered to customers.
While none of the defendants were charged with causing any actual illnesses or deaths, more than 700 people were sickened and nine deaths resulted from the 2008-09 outbreak that led to a four-year criminal investigation and a subsequent 76-count indictment.
The 12-member jury found Stewart Parnell guilty on 67 federal felony counts, Michael Parnell was found guilty of 30 counts, and Wilkerson was found guilty of one of the two counts of obstruction of justice charged against her.
The convictions are enough to send both brothers to federal prison for the rest of their lives as each count carries a maximum sentence of five or ten years. However, neither is known to have any previous convictions and federal sentencing guidelines will come into play after a federal sentencing report is completed for each of the three.
Wilkerson was found guilty on one and not guilty on the other obstruction of justice count against her. She faces a maximum of ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The salmonella outbreak involving PCA was one of the most deadly in modern U.S. history with three deaths in Minnesota, two in Ohio, two in Virginia and one each in both Idaho and North Carolina. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta reported 714 confirmed cases in 46 states, but unreported cases likely topped 22,000.
(Dallas Carter, Food Safety News’ courthouse observer assisted in this report.)
Wilkerson was found guilty on one and not guilty on the other obstruction of justice count against her. She faces a maximum of ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
See, we're important enough to go to jail if we're unscrupulous! Next time I can't get cooperation to stop something really bad, I'm gonna say something like "Mary WIlkerson got 10 years for that!"
See, we're important enough to go to jail if we're unscrupulous! Next time I can't get cooperation to stop something really bad, I'm gonna say something like "Mary WIlkerson got 10 years for that!"
Important reminder of how important what we do is. While most diligently care about what we do, what concerns me is the overzealous regulator. The legal fees she paid were probably massive.
See, we're important enough to go to jail if we're unscrupulous! Next time I can't get cooperation to stop something really bad, I'm gonna say something like "Mary WIlkerson got 10 years for that!"
I don't look good in Orange and they'd never let me near the kitchen anyway if people got sick or worse, so my aspirations of being Red are shot. :rolleyes:
I'm too pretty to go to jail! :giggle: