Extrudex could face a financial penalty

NORTH JACKSON

Extrudex Aluminum Inc., which operates an aluminum manufacturing plant along Mahoning Avenue, has pleaded guilty to concealing felony offenses from law enforcement as well as its Canadian parent company.

The company is set to be sentenced Aug. 1 on a count of misprision (deliberate concealment of one’s knowledge) of a felony, according to a release from the Northern Ohio office of the U.S. District Attorney. Mike Tobin, spokesman for that office, said last month the company could face a financial penalty.

John J. Tomlin Jr., 21, of Niles, was killed in October 2012 when racks containing hot aluminum product weighing between 4,000 and 5,000 pounds that he was pushing on a conveyor tipped over, crushing him. Another worker was seriously injured but survived.

A separate October indictment against the local plant’s general manager Brian Carder, of Stow, and its safety coordinator Paul Love, of Lake Milton, charged them with covering up the incident and coercing employees into lying to U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigators and alleges leadership knew the machinery was unsafe as early as 2009.

Both have pleaded not guilty and are set for a July trial at the federal courthouse in Cleveland.

The company itself was federally charged last month with concealing felony obstruction of justice offenses from Extrudex management in Canada, as well as law enforcement.

Extrudex Aluminum’s Cleveland-area attorney Chris Georgalis declined to comment Tuesday.