The owners of a recycling facility near a Watts high school that was the site of an explosion last month on the first day of school have been indicted on more than two-dozen charges.
S&W Atlas Iron and Metal Corp., and its owners were formally charged as part of a 25-count Grand Jury indictment, alleging that the company was negligent for the blast and has repeatedly skirted environmental laws.
Gary Weisenberg, 78, and his son Matthew Weisenberg, 36, appeared in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Thursday to hear the charges and plead not guilty to them.
The privately owned scrapyard is located in Watts, next to Jordan High School and a housing development. The facility processes scrap metal and electronic waste and has been doing business in the area for nearly 70 years, officials said.
The Grand Jury complaint alleges that the scrapyard has repeatedly and increasingly violated environmental and safety regulations dating as far back as 2017.
In a news release issued Thursday evening, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office accused the company and its owners of knowingly disposing of hazardous waste at the site without holding the proper permit.
The Weisenbergs each face two additional misdemeanor counts for failing to minimize the possibility of a fire of explosion on the property, as well as one count of being a public nuisance.
The bulk of the charges are in relation to the Aug. 12 explosion at the facility, which occurred around 10 minutes before the first period on the first day of the new school year for students at Jordan High.
According to the Los Angeles Times, several students, parents and faculty members reported hearing a loud explosion before seeing a fireball and plume of smoke.
Authorities and the Los Angeles Unified School District investigated the blast to determine if any potentially dangerous debris landed on school grounds.
District Attorney George Gascón said Thursday that debris had been found and soil samples collected from an area of the high school showed “excessive concentrations” of lead and zinc. Additional samples taken from the scrapyard revealed excessive concentrations of seven metals in total.
It’s the latest controversy in a growing string of problems that have mired one of the oldest recyclers in L.A.
Last June, Gascón’s office filed two-dozen other charges against the facility and its owners, alleging that it illegally and improperly disposed of hazardous materials on multiple occasions, including lead, which has the potential to cause serious health problems and even brain damage.
Students and faculty have complained to authorities for years about metal shrapnel landing on school property. The scrapyard has been the site of additional explosions that sent debris over onto its neighbor’s campus, including two that occurred in 2002, the Times reports.
Gascón said these latest charges are meant to hold companies like Atlas accountable for putting “profits over people” and endangering the community.
“Our communities must come first,” Gascón said in a news release issued Thursday evening. “No business has the right to jeopardize public health, especially in areas that impact our children’s futures.”
He added that students and the Watts neighborhood deserves a “safe and healthy environment to learn and grow in.”
Gary and Matthew Weisenberg are due in court for a pretrial hearing on Oct. 28, officials said.