Extrudex fined $250K for coverup

Staff report

NORTH JACKSON

Extrudex Aluminum Inc. was fined $250,000 and placed on three years’ probation after the company pleaded guilty to concealing knowledge of a felony after a federal investigation into the 2012 death of a worker at the plant.

The sentence was handed down Thursday in the U.S. Northern District Court of Ohio for the deliberate concealment of one’s knowledge of a felony by Judge Solomon Oliver in Cleveland.

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.

The plant’s general manager, Brian Carder of Stow, and its safety coordinator, Paul Love of Lake Milton, were each indicted separately in October for attempting to hinder an investigation by federal authorities.

Both men last month pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. Carder is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 15. Love is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 22.

Chris Georgalis, attorney for Extrudex, did not return a call seeking comment Friday.

The company was charged via a bill of information in March and pleaded guilty in April.

The bill of information accused the company of hiding evidence from federal investigators and Extrudex Canada management between April 1, 2016, and Jan. 1, 2018, that a felony was committed during a U.S. Occupational And Health Safety Administration investigation into Tomlin’s death.

Carder and Love were charged with lying to investigators from OSHA, withholding an email regarding the machinery’s safety and persuading other workers to recant their previous statements about the machinery’s safety, “including by suggesting their jobs might be in jeopardy.”