Former Rocketdyne Employee Sentenced for Role in Fatal 1994 Explosion

On January 27, 2003, Joseph E. Flanagan was sentenced in United States
District Court, Riverside, California, to one year of probation and
fined $5,000 for his involvement in a 1994 laboratory explosion that
killed two scientists at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL). The
SSFL is a facility formerly operated by Rockwell International
Corporation, Rocketdyne Division.

On April 28, 1999, Flanagan and two other scientists at Rocketdyne were
indicted by a Federal Grand Jury for illegally storing and disposing of
hazardous waste without the permit required by the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act. Flanagan pled guilty on June 3, 2002,
to two misdemeanor counts of unlawfully storing explosive materials.
James Weber was sentenced in September 2002, and Edgar Wilson, the
third scientist indicted, is awaiting trial.

This investigation was conducted by Special Agents of the NASA Office
of Inspector General’s Office of Investigations, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Naval
Criminal Investigative Service, the U.S. Air Force Office of Special
Investigations, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Other
agencies involved in the investigation included the California
Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupation Safety and
Health, Bureau of Investigations; Department of Toxic Substances
Control; the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office; the Ventura
County Fire Department; the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department; the
Ventura County Environmental Health Department; and the Ventura County
Air Pollution Control District. Assistant United States Attorney
William Carter, Central District of California, handled the
prosecution.

For more information on this release, please contact Paul Shawcross,
Executive Officer, NASA Office of Inspector General at (202) 358-2558.

Previous Releases:
2002-094, 09/30/02
– Former Contractor Employee Sentenced for Unlawfully Storing Explosive Materials
1999-029, April 30, 1999, Three Scientists Employed at Rocketdyne
Testing Facility Indicted.